Special Discount
by Blue Funk
Summary: Roxas blinked down at the pile. A discounted pack of lighters, condoms, and... a box of Twinkies. This guy undoubtedly had excellent taste. [AkuRoku]
1. Girls at Seven Eleven

**Special Discount**

* * *

"_**Girls from Seven-Eleven stay up all night, 24 hours a day..."**_

Roxas heaved a bored sigh, eyes flicking up briefly to the radio perched on the counter of his work area. Organized lines of cigarettes were arranged above him, and there were random knick-knacks stored around the shelves beneath the counter. He had already counted every single box of cigarette. It was 103. And the boy had also taken it upon himself to tidy up the roll of paper towel, pile of playing cards, and little box of hair ties as well. And now Mindless Self Indulgence was mocking him.

Roxas was working the night shift of Seven-Eleven.

And perhaps he wasn't a girl, but he _was_ staying up all night.

Luckily, the small store was air-conditioned, or he would have been really pissed. Working 10:00 pm to 6:00 am was bad enough as it was. He hated this job, but it was summer and he desperately needed the money if he planned on blowing all of it at Otakon later.

Curling his lips to release another stream of air upwards, his blonde spikes that served as bangs shivered at the onslaught as Roxas stretched his limbs. It was almost 2:00 in the morning. The store was empty, as it had been for the past hour.

On top of working in the middle of the night and missing out on valuable sleep, the night shift was also a time when the drunk idiots and crack addicts, or maybe even insomniacs wandered into the nearest store to stock up. That was almost worse than anything about this job. At least once a day, he'd have to deal with the amused questions of why an elementary school student was working at Seven-Eleven. Roxas pouted to himself. He was just short, why did people keep making fun of him for that?

"_**I said, girls from Seven-Eleven stay up all night. Seven whole days a week!"**_

Glancing again briefly at the mocking radio, Roxas turned back to what he had been doing before his mental ranting had started up. His brows furrowed for the umpteenth time that night. A book lay out in his lap, and a worksheet packet was resting on the counter. In the beginning of his job, he had figured that if he was going to be sitting awake all night every day at Seven-Eleven, he might as well get some summer work done.

"_**I said, girls from Seven-Eleven stay up all night,"**_

Turning back to his English AP assignment, the blonde flicked back to the page where he had left off in _To Kill a Mockingbird_ with a wince. He hated the book. So boring and dull. Just like he hated this job, as a matter of fact. Leaning back in the swivelly chair, he propped his feet up next to the cash register and set back to reading.

"And I could get a discount..." He sung along quietly, returning to the world of Atticus Finch and Boo Radley.

He didn't get a paragraph in when the faint jingle of the door alarm sounded. Someone had come in. The casual stump of a boots across the tiled floor replaced the quiet silence of the store and the smell of smoke wafted beneath Roxas's nose. The employee had had enough work experience to tell what that meant. The customer was smoking. Without bothering to even look up from his book, the blonde sighed and shoved forward the ashtray on the counter with the heel of his foot.

"There's no smoking in here..." He drawled, eyes flickering over the page. Another rock song started up on the radio, but Roxas paid it no mind.

"Sorry about that, blondie."

With a quirk of his eyebrow, Roxas finally had enough incentive to get a good look at who had come in. The voice certainly didn't belong to a drunkard. It was deep and had a husky edge to it. Marking the place in his book with his thumb, he looked up.

The first thing Roxas managed to take in was the blast of red spikes. The teen was older than him by a few years, it looked like. And his hair... Roxas internally 'ooh-ed' and 'ahh-ed' at the way it curved backward in perfect points. It didn't look gelled, either. But his outer expression remained bored and indifferent as he went on to see that the boy was clutching at a motorcycle helmet in one hand. Probably a delinquent.

The red-head flashed him a grin, moving forward to put out the cigarette that he had indeed been smoking. Green eyes shining with amusement, the boy shrugged his shoulders and backed off. "You can just get back to that book, then. Atticus Finch is the man."

Smiling somewhat in incredulity, Roxas watched briefly as the motorcyclist headed off down one of the short aisles of the store before attempting to get back to his assignment.

A brief moment later, he still hadn't even read a full sentence. The red-head was distracting enough with his bobbing hair and cocky personality that shone through him without him even saying anything that Roxas found that he couldn't concentrate on his book. Screw this, he thought, shutting the book with a soft snap and tossing it up onto one of the shelves next to him. If he couldn't do his school work, he might as well do his actual job.

Cautiously peering over the counter now, Roxas pulled down his legs to stand and get ready to deal with the customer and work the cash register. He couldn't complain about being distracted from _To Kill a Mockingbird_. In fact, this short distraction was even welcomed. At least this guy hadn't stumbled in drunk or high.

The customer soon returned, plunking down what he wanted to buy. Roxas blinked down at the pile. A discounted pack of lighters, condoms, and... a box of Twinkies. This guy undoubtedly had _excellent _taste. Snorting, Roxas looked back at the grinning teen. "Anything else?"

"Actually, now that you mention it..." The stranger paused, setting his helmet down beside his three items. "... can I get a 40 ounce Slurpee?"

"Mm." Reaching beneath the counter to the stacks of Slurpee cups, Roxas plucked out the first one at the top of the pile and tossed it to the red-head. With a grin of thanks, the taller boy wasted no time in sauntering over to the beverage machine.

Roxas let out another sigh. And he was getting paid minimum wage for this? It was depressing. Propping his elbows on the countertop, then his chin on his hands, the blonde gazed listlessly at the pack of condoms below his nose with only a vague spark of interest. Eyes then traveled to his worn chucks, up his frayed jeans, then back to the counter. He didn't want to observe his tacky Seven-Eleven work shirt too much, it was ugly enough as it was.

The sleek motorcycle helmet then caught his eye. It was black, but there were patterns of flames etched onto the surface and a name... arching his neck, Roxas made out the words "Axel" carved neatly into the plastic near the bottom of the helmet. What kind of a name was Axel?

And just when he couldn't loathe his job anymore... there was a morbid crunching sound behind him that didn't sound too promising...

"Eh hehe... um, blondie? I think it's broken."

With a roll of his eyes, Roxas turned around to face the red-head. His look of indifference fell away like oil and his jaw dropped to take on an expression of horror.

"What the hell did you _do_?"

The Slurpee machine was spewing blue and red iced mush in any which way possible, the delinquent standing beside it with his cup uselessly empty in his hands. He waved his arms around, smiling and trying not to laugh at Roxas's look. He stood aside as the blonde dashed forward, sliding somewhat on the slippery floor.

"I didn't really do anything!

Roxas said nothing, grimly digging into the machines innards and ignoring the Slurpee that was getting splattered into his hair, face, and uniform. It was cold and his fingers were quickly becoming numb, but after a few minutes of determined scrounging, the boy managed to pull out the wad of straws that had been wedged into the dispenser nozzle. Immediately, the machine grinded to a halt and resumed pouring out Slurpee like it was meant to do. With an excited exclamation, Axel took this moment to shuffle forward and prop his cup underneath the stream of red, watching with a grin as it filled to the top.

Roxas only watched, mouth gaping as the red-head casually fitted a cap onto his 40 ounce cup then poked a large straw into it, looking for all the world like he hadn't caused a huge disaster for the Seven-Eleven worker.

Axel chuckled, taking a slow sip before nodding. "Thanks."

"Y-y... what..." Roxas managed to choke out, the sticky concoction on his face beginning to slide down his collar. He scowled at the pleased expression on Axel's face. "What the hell did you break the machine for? You did that on purpose, I know you did!"

"Hrm." Axel leaned forward, grinning crookedly. Roxas stood his ground, eyes narrowed as the older teen's face got closer. It was hard to look angry and stern when you were covered from head to toe in Slurpee, but he tried his best, meeting Axel's gaze determinedly. He had no idea why the red-head had broken and totally screwed up the beverage dispenser, but he was most certainly going to pay for it somehow.

The red-head tilted his head. "You're a mess, blondie."

"It's _Roxas_, you--"

The blonde's words stuttered to a halt as Axel's tongue darted out to lick a trail up his cheek and clean up some of sticky drink from his face. He winced at the sensation, struggling to maintain his composure and yell at the motorcyclist, but Axel would have none of it. With one hand, he shoved Roxas against the wall by the Slurpee machine.

With a brief grin, the red-head swooped in to press his lips to the blonde's. Roxas glared at him, remaining still in hopes of dissuading the teen. His boss had warned before that creeps would come into the store sometimes, looking for some action. All he would have to do is press the alarm button beneath the counter.

Struggling to get out of his vulnerable position, Roxas shoved at the red-head, but Axel wasn't having any of _that_, either.

"You're not going anywhere."

Laughing softly, he dug a hand deep into the shorter boy's hair, massaging the scalp as he leaned in for another kiss. It wasn't as gentle the second time, Roxas noted. Axel was more intense with this one, tongue sliding along his stiff lips. The cold sensations were spreading along his body from the chilly drink that had soaked into his shirt and hair. Still, Roxas wouldn't budge.

Axel, ever stubborn, tried another maneuver. Tongue still slick and active, he began running it along Roxas's face, licking away at the remaining stickiness with soft slurping noises. It was enough to distract the blonde and give Axel an opportunity to nudge a knee in-between Roxas's legs.

Roxas gasped for breath at the intimate movement and that's when Axel chose to strike. Pouncing on the open mouth, the red-head's tongue went to work, easing into the warm cavern. The taste of wild cherry and blue raspberry broke through the Seven-Eleven employee's senses. The sharp tang of blue and sweet sensation of red Slurpee set strange sensations through his body and involuntarily, he began to relax, eyes lowering to a half-mast.

The kiss ended in a way that seemed premature. Axel, eyes cloudy and shining with triumph, rested his forehead against Roxas's messy one.

"So..." He panted, "Think I can get a discount on that Slurpee?"

"In your dreams." Roxas replied smugly, leaning back on the wall comfortably. No amount of snogging would convince Roxas to put his job in jeopardy. Even if the snogging was good.

Miffed that his seduction attempts had failed, Axel's eye twitched. Luckily, he had another trick up his sleeve. With hooded eyes, he set back to work, mouth descending on Roxas's. At the same time, a slender hand began slithering down the blonde's front, briefly teasing up his shirt, then heading back in the southern direction.

The sound of a zipper being undone, his own, brought Roxas back to reality. Eyes flashing open, he grunted in protest in an attempt to push Axel away again. The red-head dug his hands deeper into the yellow spikes, growling and pushing back. No words were exchanged, but the two met gazes briefly to glare at each other before smashing into another kiss.

_What the hell are we doing, I wonder..._ Roxas thought to himself. He wasn't such a malleable individual that he let anyone who wanted to come up and start kissing him. Nor was there something particularly special about this individual who was currently intent on sticking a hand down his pants. With slow puffs, Roxas realized that he had no idea why this was happening. Maybe working at Seven-Eleven had made him like this.

But he doubted it.

The second time, Axel's attempts went on without protest. The zipper went all the way down and the hand snuck in to stroke against Roxas's obvious interest in the situation. Roxas's hands came up to grip Axel's shoulders as the taller teen continued to press kisses to his lips and stroke harder. By now, Roxas had practically gone numb from the Slurpee absorbing into his clothes, and his hair was probably absolutely disgusting, but it didn't stop Axel from continuously running his fingers through it. The tangy sweet taste that had been present in the kiss was gone, too.

And just when things were getting good... Axel stopped.

Abruptly, he broke away, pausing just a second more to make sure Roxas could still stand, leaning against the wall. Licking his fingers free of the stickiness that he had acquired from the blonde hair, he grabbed the abandoned drink of his that was still standing where he had left it before he stuck a hand down Roxas's pants. Calmly taking a sip of the stuff, he backpedaled to the counter, grabbing the forgotten discounted pack of lighters, condoms, and box of Twinkies.

Dumping the three items into his helmet that was now temporarily a basket, he waved goodbye to the dazed Roxas, licking his lips. "See you around, _Roxas_. And thanks for the Slurpee."

Somehow, Roxas didn't think he meant the actual drink.

That's when the thought that Axel hadn't paid broke through his fuddled head. He swore angrily, pushing off from the wall. "Hey! You didn't pay for that!"

"... yeah I did. Check your pants, blondie." Axel said over his shoulder, striding out of the Seven-Eleven.

Bewildered, Roxas unthinkingly looked down, pulling out the elastic band of his boxers to look inside. A five dollar bill had been stuffed inside by Axel's nimble hand. Unsticking the bill from the cotton material, the blonde looked it over.

Slowly, a grin spread on his kiss-bruised lips. A phone number had been scribbled onto the bottom of the bill, along with a note.

_"Keep the change."_

Roxas looked out the window of the Seven-Eleven just in time to see Axel revving away on his motorbike, mockingly blowing a kiss to him in goodbye.

Turned out that working at Seven-Eleven all night wasn't as boring as he thought it was. Setting out to go get a mop and cleaning solution, the blonde came to a realization.

He was working night shifts all next week.

* * *

Inspired by listening to MSI nonstop for three days, mainly "Seven-Eleven." Don't know why I wrote this. xD Maybe I'm insane. Or maybe I've been reading _To Kill a Mockingbird_ too much and went on a Akuroku deficit. 

I have an obsession with doing chapter stories, even if I write them originally as one-shots. edit// And I still doing, seeing that this is no longer a one-shot xD

I still have so much more stuff to write xD And yet here I am, writing about how Roxas is covered in Slurpee and getting licked clean by Axel.

Gotta love it.

REVIEWS?


	2. Calling him back

I'm not gonna lie, I never actually intended to continue Special Discount! But lo and behold, I end up with so many absolutely flattering reviews and a lot of people wanted this continued! And who am I to turn down the demands of my very much loved readers and reviewers? But seriously, thank you all SO much for your reviews; I was absolutely in shock when I saw just how well this story did. I will try my best not to disappoint you with the part two, three, or however far this goes.

Read on, faithful readers, read on!

* * *

**Special Discount**

**Chapter 2**

* * *

The air was hot and stifling and the sun was beating down fiercely onto the world, roasting the earth and everything on it, making it dry and humid. Wasps and flies even looked a little parched as the summer day dragged on. No one walked the sidewalks and all cars had their windows rolled up to blast their air conditioners at full power. Even the bright blue of the sky was hazy from the despicable atmosphere. 

So naturally, it was the perfect day for Roxas to be working at his second job. A lifeguard at his local outdoor pool. Toiling away at the Seven-Eleven during the late hours of the night was only part-time. Originally, the plan had been that he work nights at the convenience store, get a quick nap before lifeguarding, sleep during breaks, sleep and maybe even eat after that, then back to Seven-Eleven. Hardly a healthy lifestyle, but the paychecks coming in every Thursday were very satisfying fruits of his labor.

A whole week had passed since the little incident with Axel. Even the mere thought of the red-head made Roxas flush and feel a little queasy inside. So he decided to let some of his queasiness out by going for some advice.

He had at least expected a little shock. Maybe a word of concern and support, or even a smidgeon of pity.

"A-a-and he _shoved it down your pants_? Oh haha, that's hilarious!"

What Roxas hadn't seen coming was Sora collapsing into a loud fit of laughter, his fist occasionally slamming down onto the table as he expressed his amusement. The blonde, on the other hand, was not amused in the least. The two were seated in an area slightly fenced away from the actual pool deck. There were three lawn tables set up and it was here that the lifeguards came to relax during their break, reveling in the shade. And if it got too hot, they could always wander over to the pool office right next to them, which was air conditioned. Needless to say, Roxas and Sora were the only ones sitting out in the blistering heat.

Scowling at his friend, Roxas impatiently waited for the giggles to die off before raking his hand through straw-yellow hair.

"Y'know, it's not _that_ funny."

Sora snickered, his own auburn spikes bobbing as his outburst died down. Wiping tears of mirth from the corners of his eyes, the brunette leaned forward to take a sip of water from his plastic cup. "I think it's completely amusing, Roxas. It's not everyday that a guy comes in and you end up letting him... what's the phrase... 'have his way with you'?"

"He did _not_ have his way with me! Shut up! You said you wouldn't make fun of me for this!" protested Roxas, glaring and looking thoroughly disgruntled. As if the incident with Axel hadn't been mind-scarring enough, now his co-worker was laughing at him about it.

Across the table, Sora let out the last chuckles he had in him before fixing his friend with a curious stare. "So have you called him back yet?"

Roxas shook his head silently, absently rubbing a scrap of paper with that infamous phone number on it that he had jotted down from the five-dollar bill. His conscious had continued to nag at him over the past seven days that he wanted to at least call the red-head and tell him off. The bitter side of him reasoned that the number probably wasn't even Axel's. The perverted side, however, sneered that he had totally enjoyed what had happened by the slushie machine and that deep down inside, he really did want more.

Roxas hated his perverted side.

It had been hard enough to just tell Sora about this, but actually calling Axel made his stomach twist into knots. Or maybe it was just the exhaustion. The poor teen had worked through an entire week of night-shifts at Seven-Eleven, giving up regular sleep hours for the sake of getting paid. So much sleep deprivation was finally breaking him down. The second job didn't help.

Raising his hands to gently run his fingertips over the puffy purple bags under his eyes, Roxas grunted. "I'm not sure I want to call him back. He might try to molest me again."

The fellow lifeguard swung the lanyard to which his whistle was attached. The ends of his fingers swiveled in time with the rotations of the whistle as it spun. Roxas didn't follow the motions, instead staring down thoughtfully at the surface of the table and trying to ignore the headache in the back of his skull that complained of the sleep deficiency.

"I think you should."

Sora had been his friend and neighbor for as long as Roxas could remember. They had taken the lifeguarding course together and later both had applied for work at the same pool. Clumsy and sometimes clueless, the teen was nevertheless a perfect provider of advice. His powerful common sense was unrivaled in their group of companions. This is why Roxas had told him his secret in the first place.

"I can't just call him." The blonde argued, growing frustrated with the situation. As they continued to sit at the small table hidden away in the corner of the pool, the sun seemed to set the actual air on fire. Roxas could swear that his brain was melting from the heat of the sun and the unbearable humidity. Sometimes, he _really_ hated summer.

"Sure you can!" The cheeriness in Sora's voice got Roxas's eye twitching slightly.

"And what'll I say? 'Hello, this is Roxas. Remember, the guy who let you grab my crotch?' Right, Sora. That'll work."

The brunette shrugged, "You never know, it might. This Axel guy seems like the kind of guy who wouldn't bat an eyelash at something like that."

Roxas said nothing, staring off at the rippling water of the pool nearby, listening to the laughter of the patrons and breathing in the scent of chlorine and sun block. Or, at least, he tried to listen and get his mind off of Axel. For the better part of the last week, the red-head had been one of the few things on his mind, aside from his continuous mission to get sleep, and even for that, Axel continued to haunt him. The damn idiot had sparked a marathon of morning wood for him that was getting increasingly more and more frustrating.

Who would've guessed that such a troublesome fifteen minutes of a stranger feeling him up would set the ball rolling to snowball into such a serious problem?

"How about you call him now?"

Sora's unexpected comment drove Roxas back to reality.

Tugging out his cell phone, he set it on the table beside the scribbled down phone number, blue ice cream phone charm clattering along the surface as he did so. Maybe he would have enough guts now. Roxas glanced up at his friend, trying to ignore the sudden feeling of apprehension rearing in his stomach. "You really think I should?"

"It won't hurt." Sora pointed out, grinning easily. Spotting Roxas's sudden nervous look though, he reached over to nudge the blonde. "C'mon, I can tell that you want to. It's obvious that Axel struck a nerve."

Swatting away Sora's hand, Roxas grit his teeth with impatience. "Yeah, and I have no idea why! The moron obviously just wanted to cheat me out of paying for the damn slushie, so why'd he have to go and do _that_?" Sora's eyebrows began to lift as Roxas's temper and volume increased. "Why'd he have to get his mental image stuck in my head so I found myself thinking about him all week, huh? There's nothing special about him, he's just a cheap, chain-smoking dumbass with a flashy motorcycle! So why can't I just forget about it? Tell me that, Sora!"

The brunette looked lost for words. Roxas wasn't one for long sentences or speaking much, and that particular outburst carried questions that he couldn't answer. Speaking slowly, he carefully chose the right words as he wiped the light layer of sweat from his nose.

"... I didn't really know he affected you that much, Roxas. All I can say is that you should probably call him back and at least tell him off for coming in and bothering you last week. It's not like you have to go meet him face-to-face, after all."

At these sobering words, Roxas sank as far into his chair as he could to stare at his phone. "So..."

"_So..._" Sora sighed, standing. "Just call him already."

Walking by the gloomy looking blonde, Sora snickered and ruffled his hair. "Seriously. Stop being so hopeless."

Roxas turned his head just in time to see his co-worker disappear into the pool office. Absentmindedly trying to flatten his hair as he turned back to the matter at hand, the lifeguard briefly curled his free hand into a fist before grabbing the phone and number.

'_Here goes nothing.'_

Taking a deep breath, the blonde flipped open the phone and slowly punched in the appropriate numbers. Holding his breath, butterflies erupted in his stomach; Roxas grimaced to himself as he lifted the cell to his ear just in time to hear the start of the ringing.

**Ring... **

'_Oh god, what am I doing? Roxas, hang up. Hang up, Roxas. This isn't going to get you anywhere.'_

**Ring...**

'_Ok, so I'm obviously not hanging up. What am I going to say? What could I possibly even say?'_

**Ri-**

The ringing stopped midway as the call was picked up.

"_Yo, this is Axel."_

The familiar husky voice invaded his eardrums. Roxas blinked, mouth opening up and down as he silently grappled for something to say.

"Hey..." He finally managed to mutter out, flushing with embarrassment and standing up to start pacing, wincing as his bare feet began to tread across the heated cement of the pool deck. The laughter of the patrons increased in the background, but most of the outside noises around Roxas were muffled out by his rapidly beating heart.

There was a soft laugh on the other end of the line. _"Roxas, is that your heavenly voice I'm hearing? I can't believe it."_

Back and forth, Roxas padded along the length of the lifeguard area, trying to calm himself down. "Um, yeah... it's me."

"_You actually called! I didn't think you would, being such a virgin and all." _Axel snickered through the phone. Roxas immediately flared up in indignation, despite his previous nerves.

"Virgin? I am not a virgin, you molester!"

Sora emerged just in time from the office to that, immediately launching into a stream of giggling as he came to stand by his friend. While he listened, the brunette kept his eyes out to the pool not too far off.

Roxas glanced over briefly at the other lifeguard as he listened to Axel's response.

"_Maybe, maybe not. I could definitely change that little detail for you, though."_

"I don't _need_ that changed, thank you!" Roxas snarled, stopping his pacing to stand beside Sora as his free hand lifted to dig into his blonde spikes, tugging gently to relieve his frustration.

"_I think you do, Roxie. Why else would you be calling me back?" _

Roxas frowned at that, chewing on his lip. For the first time, he noticed that on the other end of the line, there was laughter and conversation in the background. Apparently, Axel wasn't alone.

"I'm just calling you back to make sure there's nothing between us."

Sora, meanwhile, nodded in approval of the statement. Roxas ignored him.

"_Aw, are you saying you don't want anything to do with me anymore? That hurts, Rox. I missed you." _There was more laughter in the background, and Roxas could have sworn he heard someone complimenting Axel's statement. The strange thing was, though, that there was definitely an echo of the background noise coming from somewhere.

"Just stay away from me, alright?" The blonde growled, all the while trying to find the source of the echo. He briefly held his phone away from his ear to make sure it was still working properly. It appeared to be functioning fine. Flummoxed, Roxas returned the phone to its original position, simultaneously looking back at the pool deck.

"_Hey, you're the one who called_ me._" _

"-the one who called _me._"

Roxas stiffened. The echo was getting louder, and it obviously wasn't coming from his phone.

"I didn't call you to arrange a get-together, y'know." He said slowly, his voice low as he kept his eyes peeled for the source of the repeating phrases. Next to him, Sora seemed to perk up a bit, shuffling forward slightly. He seemed to have heard something. Roxas didn't question it; Sora often got interested in new patrons coming into the pool and luckily, no one could really see them from their position, so he could stare all he wanted. "I just wanted to clear this up."

Meanwhile, a group of newly arrived visitors to the pool sauntered past the lifeguard area. Most of them were laughing and appeared to be in their late teens.

The tallest patron was talking on the phone. Guffawing loudly, he exchanged a grin with one of his friends as he spoke. "By telling me not to bother you anymore? That's not very nice, Roxas."

Hearing the response to Roxas's words right before him, something clicked. Sora gaped, eyes widening as he looked from the flamboyant red-head who was strolling past, to the stony-faced Roxas behind him who was struggling not to let his jaw drop to the ground.

To give Roxas credit, he recovered quite quickly from his initial shock of seeing Axel in-person so unexpectedly. Pulling himself together as fast as humanly possible, he side-stepped to hide behind a small part of fence that blocked off half the entrance of the lifeguard area. That way, he would be able to keep an eye on Axel, but Axel wouldn't see him.

Willing his voice to stay even, he glared at the red-head through the wire. "Who ever said I was nice?"

Gauging from Roxas's reaction and Axel's response carefully, Sora went into action, scurrying into the office again. This idea was way too last minute for his liking, but it was bound to work.

Axel moved out of hearing-distance again, sitting down with his group on a set of lawn chairs. Roxas took this opportunity to observe his companions as the delinquent spoke, still grinning widely. There were three others. A rather short blonde girl with bizarre bangs was in the process of peeling off her tank top to reveal a hot pink bikini. She was also giggling uncontrollably at whatever Axel was saying.

Nearby, two other boys were listening, but only one was smiling. For the taller one, dirty blonde hair was crafted into a mohawk and mullet together, creating a rather strange arrangement of hair. He had already tugged off his shirt, while the one beside him remained fully clothed and frowning, his dyed black and purple hair hanging over half of his face.

So intently was Roxas observing that he almost missed Axel's reply.

"_You acted pretty nice back at Seven-Eleven... helping me with that slurpee machine... getting covered in sticky stuff so that I could lick it off of you..." _His voice lowered to a soft purr while his friends around him began to laugh harder. Roxas's temper shot back up again. It had taken him three days to finally get all of the slurpee out of his hair.

"Look, you asshole, that was just a mistake!"

"_Or was it? You looked like you were enjoying it... panting for me."_

As a bright blush crept up to Roxas's cheeks, he kept his eyes locked on Axel's smirking features. As it happened, this diverted all of his attention away from, perhaps, a certain Sora creeping up next to him, armed with a microphone that was in turn hooked up to the pool's loudspeakers. So Roxas did not hear the soft click of the mic turning on, or the hum off the speakers switching to broadcast mode. He was too busy glaring at the back of Axel's fat head and wishing him dead for making him blush.

"**I was **_**not**_** enjoying it! Being covered in slurpee from head to toe is not enjoyable, dumbass!"**

The microphone innocently screeched from feedback. The pool suddenly fell silent at the outburst and Axel paused, turning in place to look over at the office with a raised eyebrow as Roxas's outburst reverberated around the deck. Roxas froze, looking absolutely horrified as he almost dropped the phone in shock. Sora, on the other hand, pranced back to the office, a contended smile on his lips.

Going numb, the blonde could only watch, completely helpless, as Axel turned on his heel to peer over at the lifeguard area amidst hooting laughter from his three other friends. A disbelieving smile on his face, he pressed the phone back to his ear and started walking.

"_Roxas... that wasn't just you on the intercom, was it?"_

Had Roxas recovered enough from the shock to respond?

"I, uh... um..."

No, apparently not.

But before he could even choke up a response, the line went dead. The blonde looked up just in time to see Axel sneak around the corner to lean against the edge of the fence and look down at him, skinny arms crossed over a bare, slightly tan chest.

"It's a small world, Rox. Never thought I'd see you here."

With a snap, Roxas shut his phone and jammed it into the single pocket of his red trunks, hoping that the pink coloring over his cheeks had gone. Not knowing completely what to say, he blurted out the first thing that came into his frazzled mind.

"That was Sora's idea, sticking the mic into my face, y'know. If I had had a choice, I would have avoided you at all costs." Absently tugging at the edge of his lifeguard t-shirt, he finally brought his eyes up to meet Axel's. Unfortunately, the process also meant running his gaze up along Axel's scrawny legs, black trunks, and well-toned upper body as well. Flinching somewhat at how much better the red-head looked compared to him, Roxas finally came up to his face. The older teen was smiling lazily at him.

"Yeah, I figured as much. I'll have to thank this Sora, now that I can meet you properly."

Growing somewhat irritated by the smug look Axel had about him, Roxas pushed away from the fence and took a few steps towards the office, turning to look back at the delinquent. "I never said anything about wanting to meet _you_ properly, though."

"Aw, c'mon, Roxas, don't be like that." Axel tilted his head, crimson spikes shifting to accommodate the movement. Even with the humidity, his hair still looked perfect.

"Ooh, Ax, is that the guy from Seven-Eleven you caught last week?"

"He's pretty cute... for a high schooler."

"Doesn't look too happy to see you, though."

It seemed that Axel's friends had caught up with him. Still looking highly amused by the whole situation, the two blondes and the emo-looking one had come to stand at the edge of the lifeguard area. The one with the mohawk had on the widest smile Roxas had ever seen.

"Is that bet-boy, Axel?"

Axel didn't take his eyes off of Roxas, studying the blonde's annoyed expression. He seemed to be searching his face for something, and by the strange spark in his eyes, he appeared to have found it. "This is him, alright."

The blonde girl snickered, brushing a hand through her antennae-like bangs. "You're such a cheat! But I'll give you credit, he's a lot cuter than the other one you were supposed to get!"

Roxas listened to the exchange in silence, not appreciating how Axel's friends were referring to him. With a quirk of his eyebrows, he sent a glare Axel's way, masking his confusion. The red-head chuckled softly, shrugging in response before pushing away from the fence to turn back to his companions.

"Keep an eye on us, lifeguard. We're trouble-makers, we might just cause some problems." Axel threw over his shoulder as the group turned the corner and headed back to the lawn chairs they had claimed.

This left Roxas fuming in the hot sun, fists clenched both from annoyance and relief that the meeting was over. He hadn't expected Axel to show up, and seeing him so unexpectedly like that had startled him. But at least it was over. Or seemed to be. With Axel, it seemed, you could never tell.

Nevertheless, Axel's warning stuck in his head as Roxas headed into the office to find Sora. Breathing out a soft sigh of relief as the cool air hit his sunburnt cheeks, he passed through the small room that held a fridge and water cooler. The rest of the lifeguarding staff was busy there, playing a game of poker. Nodding hello to them, Roxas didn't stop but moved on through another doorway to the main area of the office, closing the door behind him to ensure some privacy. The thick doors were practically sound-proof, anyway.

Only Sora sat at the long desk that took up half the room. The brunette was busy sorting through first aid supplies that would later be placed into the cupboard nearby.

Hearing Roxas's arrival, he glanced up, an impish grin growing on his lips. "So? What'd Axel say?"

Scowling, Roxas moved to sit in the second chair by the desk. Although he really was irked at the brunette, he was too tired to be truly angry. Instead, he contented himself with throwing Sora the nastiest scowl he could muster. "Wouldn't you like to know? What the hell were you thinking, shoving the mic under my nose like that?"

Grabbing a stack of gauze bandages, Sora stood. "Oh, I just thought you needed a little boost of encouragement."

"_That's_ what you call encouragement? I think Riku's rubbing off on you." Roxas thought back to his friend's boyfriend, glower increasing. He didn't get along very well with the silver-haired teen.

"In more ways than one!" piped up Sora from the first-aid cupboard, beaming.

With a snort at that, Roxas sat back in his chair, basking in that which was air conditioning as he watched Sora finish up organizing the supplies. As Sora worked, though, the blonde recited what had happened moments before with Axel. The brunette finally slumped back into his chair with a sigh, leaning back to prop his feet up on the edge of the table.

"So he just kinda came around to say hi, then left?"

"Basically, yeah. His friends kinda bothered me, though." said Roxas, still bewildered on why they had called him "Bet-Boy."

"I don't really know what that's about either. All I can say is that... is that..." Sora slowly broke off his sentence, shifting his attention to the door that led out to the pool deck. Whatever it was had left him speechless.

With a confused expression, Roxas turned around to look as well, twitching in surprise at what he saw through the small window built into the steel door.

Axel and his mowhawked friend were standing outside. The sandy-blonde teen looked to be in pain while the red-head was doing his best to comfort him. Darting up from his chair, Sora scurried to the entrance and flung open the door. "Come in, guys. What happened?"

With a sigh, Axel pushed his companion inside and shut the door behind him to preserve the cold air. Pushing his hand through his damp hair, he looked over at Sora. "Demyx there tripped and fell."

"It freaking hurts!" whined Demyx, who had come in and immediately made himself at home by plunking down onto the chair where Sora had just been sitting. Roxas grinned at him, standing.

"There's a reason we have a No Running rule here, y'know."

The other blonde pouted. "Wasn't my fault, I just really wanted to get into the water."

Sora had already tugged on latex gloves and pulled out some band aids from the cupboard. "Alright, I'll get you bandaged up. What'd you scratch?"

"My knees and hands..." Still looking sulky, Demyx pointed out all of his injuries to the amused brunette. Shaking his head and trying not to laugh, Roxas moved away from the two to let Sora have some space to do his job. As he took the few steps, he noticed at the last second that his movements carried him back to stand next to Axel. But it was too late to go anywhere else now.

Clearing his face of expression, Roxas leaned against the wall of the room, watching Sora and Demyx through half-closed eyes, hoping that the apathetic look on his face would make Axel shy away from addressing him again.

But, alas, no such luck.

The red-head moved closer to the lifeguard, leaning down until their heads were level. Before Roxas could even react, Axel had his lips right by his ear.

"You seem tired, Roxas. Had a rough week?"

Frozen in place, Roxas tore his eyes away from the pair in front of him to glance over into a gaze of bright green. His heart had nearly stopped as the soft breath feathered over his ear. Axel was inches away from making contact with him, and although Roxas wanted very much to move away and put an end to the loss of personal space, his legs refused to move.

"Hardly." He muttered, swallowing and wondering still what the hell was wrong with him for reacting so.

In the background, Sora and Demyx didn't even notice the exchange. Demyx was whimpering loudly as the lifeguard swiped an antiseptic pad over his cuts.

"Would you stop making those noises, it can't hurt that much..."

"No, it seriously hurts! Are you sure we shouldn't just wrap them up now? I might be bleeding to death as we speak!"

Likewise, Roxas and Axel weren't paying attention to the other pair. Axel kept his voice low, smiling at the little blonde's reaction. "Are you sure? It certainly doesn't look that way, _lifeguard_. You look even worse than you did back at the Seven-Eleven."

"It's none of your damn business." Roxas hissed back, eyes flicking downwards to stare at the floor. He would_ not_ get drawn in by Axel's seductive moves! No way in hell! The way his breath was still smoothing over his ear or how his eyes hadn't left his face the whole time would definitely _not_ affect him in any way, shape, or form. He was so concentrated on ignoring his body's reaction that he missed the searching look in Axel's eyes or how the slender fingers twitched briefly, as if he had intended to reach out and touch his face.

Barely even shifting, Axel's lips finally made contact with the tender shell of his ear. Taking the blonde's soft gasp as incentive to keep going, he widened his mouth even more to nab the tip of flesh and nibble on it. This would have continued, if not for the hand sudden pushing at his chest.

Flushing darkly, Roxas shoved the red-head away from himself, ignoring the blood now pounding through his heart at a break-neck speed.

Axel smiled.

"You missed me." He whispered, reaching up to close a hand over Roxas's.

As if stung, Roxas hurriedly grabbed his hand back, side-stepping away from the door. Still, he refused to meet the taller teen's eyes. "Like hell. A few minutes of your groping me didn't make a connection between us. You don't even know me."

A tense silence stretched out between them, but Sora and Demyx were quick to break it. Jumping up and flexing his legs to test the band-aids, Demyx punched the air in triumph. "I'm all better! Thanks, lifeguard!"

Scratching a spot on the back of his head abashedly, Sora grinned. "It's no problem, just call me Sora. And walk next time, instead of running."

"You got it! C'mon, Axel, let's g--" The mowhawked teen turned to face Axel, but abruptly broke off, feeling the awkwardness seep into the room. And it was quite stifling. "-- or let's not. I'll meet you back at the chairs, Axel. Thanks again, Sora!"

Eager to leave, Demyx slid past Roxas and out the door, flashing Axel a thumbs-up as he made his escape. Sora was quick to follow, throwing his friend a look as he closed the door behind him. Roxas shivered. He knew that look. The sort of look that said, without words, "You are _so_ screwed. But try to make the best of it."

His prey now cornered, Axel leaned against the doorframe.

"You missed me." He repeated smugly, eyes following the blonde's movements as Roxas walked into the middle of the room to lean against the table.

His back to the red-head, Roxas gripped the edge of the desk with one hand, ignoring the sudden onslaught of goose bumps that were rising on his skin. Surely, that was from the cool air conditioning? Not from the predatory look that he was certain Axel was giving him? Maybe if he kept telling himself that, he'd start to believe it.

"What makes you think that?"

"You called me back, even though you could've just ignored that." Axel took a step forward.

"You didn't just hang up when I picked up, but kept talking."

Another step. Roxas's knuckles were turning white, he was clutching the table so hard.

"Even now, when you can just walk out of this room and pretend Seven-Eleven never happened, you don't."

Step. Twitch.

"Admit it, Roxas. You missed me."

Roxas stiffened again. Axel's feet had led him to stand directly behind him, and the red-head's words had been increasingly accurate and because of that, all the more irking. Finally releasing the counter, he turned to face Axel. The delinquent was looking down at him with a strange look on his face.

"What the hell do you want from me? Wasn't it enough that you caused so much shit for me last week?" Roxas's voice carried the hint of defeat. He was too tired to argue now with Axel. He thought back to the incessant image of Axel in his mind, the constant mornings where he had to wake up and limp to the shower to drench himself in cold water. How did such a stupid incident turn into this?

"Oh, no. I want to see what you look like when you're not covered in red and blue slurpee." Axel was purring now and the feeling of trepidation rose in Roxas. He looked away briefly and the red-head continued.

"Plus, the look on your face as I was riding away was absolutely adorable and I-"

"_Adorable?"_

"Plus, you're cute when you're angry." Axel added cheerfully.

But Roxas's nerves had come to their end. Frazzled, with frayed nerve endings and an abused patience, the blonde grabbed the single necklace hanging from Axel's neck. It was on a long chain, bearing a round, spiked keychain. Ignoring the pointed edges as they dug into his palm, Roxas pulled Axel down to his level, eyes flashing. "I'll show you _cute_, you..."

"Me what, cutie?" winked Axel, obligingly bending down. The roguish grin on his face sent more goose bumps skittering across Roxas's skin and before he knew it, he was curling his other hand around the delinquent's neck and standing on his tip-toes to press his lips to Axel's.

The second their mouths connected, Axel wasted no time. He plunged forward, arms looping around Roxas's smaller waist. The action carried the two backwards until the lifeguard's back connected sharply with the edge of the desk. Grunting into their kiss, Axel's grip on Roxas grew firm and he lifted the smaller teen onto the flat surface. Now they were officially equal in height and the two quickly took full advantage of that.

Eager to expel his frustration from the past week, Roxas clamped his legs around Axel, arms thrown over his shoulders. The air conditioner continued to hum gently in the background as the two competed, grunting and struggling to dominate the other in how well they could kiss. And it seemed that Axel was gaining the upper hand. The kisses turned to open-mouthed and, as hard of a fight as Roxas put up, he could not contend with the tongue that was Axel's. He relented and with an eager wiggle of his hips, Axel tore into his mouth, eager to re-explore the territory.

All the while, the red-head's hands were making quick work of the white lifeguarding shirt restricting him from making skin-to-skin contact. They had to break away for a millisecond in order for Roxas to allow the article to slip over his head, but as soon as it was flung into the opposite wall, the two were back to smashing their lips together.

Stifling his moans, Roxas didn't resist when their bare chests smacked together and Axel's mouth went off in a south-ward direction. The buzz of the air-conditioner and the goose bumps faded as Roxas's skin began to heat up.

Axel suddenly jerked his hips forward into his, eliciting a strangled gasp. Biting his lip to ignore the way the heat was reaching out to warm every single part of his body, the blonde moved his hands to grasp onto Axel's lean upper arms, resting his forehead on one of the red-head's shoulders. This left his neck out in the open and Axel's teeth soon found their pray, roaming down to lick at his collar-bone.

Nimble fingers coaxed over Roxas's trembling stomach, shifting to knead briefly at the slender hips while another hand moved to sink into a nest of soft, spiky hair. Axel also shut off the panting noises by initiating the lifeguard into another kiss and soon enough, Roxas was overwhelmed.

The lifeguard was drowning in it. As helpless as a victim in the pool whose arms flailed helplessly in the water as they sunk lower and lower to their doom... Roxas was a goner. The grip in his hair was getting to tight, the air was getting too hot, the outside world too muffled and quiet, the friction between their bodies too painful, the sweat too stifling, and the kiss too passionate. He broke away, gasping for breath, his lungs not willing to cooperate.

And there was no one to save him. Axel was going to let him drown.

Through bleary eyes, he saw a brief glimpse of green, but it soon disappeared, as did the grip in his hair and the soft touch by his stomach. Instead, a soft tongue began marking it's way down to a place Roxas knew all too well.

"A-Axel... shit..." He grit out, hands falling to clutch at the table as the red-head snickered softly, returning back up to lick gently at his lips.

To steady the blonde, Axel looped an arm around his waist, but the other hand went to work at the red trunks he was wearing. It was too easy, these things were just held together with a draw-string. Easily undoing the knot with his free hand, Axel studied the lifeguard's flushed face intently before pressing a light kiss to his bruised lips.

"Axel..."

Almost purring at the rough edge Roxas had developed in his voice, Axel feathered a hand over the very obvious problem that Roxas was having. "What is it, cutie?"

"Why..." He shuddered as Axel pressed down harder, moving to grip the delinquent's shoulder while choking out his words. He needed to know. Needed confirmation that this wasn't just a quick fuck. He wouldn't stand for that. "_Why_... did you give me your number?"

"Because I wanted to see you again." answered Axel softly, sounding out of breath, hand slipping underneath the waistband completely. "I came to that Seven-Eleven for a reason, it wasn't by chance."

That answer would have to do for now. Roxas sighed, but quickly drew the breath back in again as a hand tightened around his erection. Axel took complete control, leaving Roxas to dissolve into helpless goo. The only thing the blonde could do was struggle and remember how to breathe. Somehow, the licking and biting at his Adam's apple, and the stroking of his cock was blocking out all the other functions of his brain. Like how to speak coherently.

He continued huffing and panting, even when he felt Axel's own arousal slide along the inside of his thigh, a result of the delinquent leaning forward to press their bodies together as they kissed again.

As a thumb coaxed over the tip of his length, all of the remaining logic that Roxas was possible of comprehending went out the window, undoubtedly to shrivel up and fry in the heat. Letting out a slow moan, he reached down between the two of them. He didn't completely know what he was doing or why, but it seemed like a good idea.

His hand found itself wound around the bulge hidden in Axel's trunks. In response, the red-head purred, increasing the stroking pressure as he bit down harder at Roxas's collar.

Roxas shuddered violently moments later, latching onto Axel. It was too late now for anything. He was dead, a drowned moron just floating in the pool. No one would even bother to call EMS, because his body had begun to sink into an immeasurable depth that only Axel could calculate out.

The two remained plastered together for what felt like ages, breathing heavily and cooling down. As soon as Roxas could heard properly again, Axel pulled him closer.

"Roxas..." he murmured softly, lips brushing against the other's ear. "Let me take you home."

"Mph." Unwilling to lift his head, Roxas instead nuzzled his face down farther into the junction between Axel's neck and shoulder.

Unable to keep a smile from his lips, Axel rubbed his cheek against the mess of blonde spikes next to him. "Are you on break now or what?"

"Yeah..." Roxas finally answered. He felt so full and satisfied now. But immensely tired. Who knew that something as a simple as a hand-job would wear him out like that. He didn't especially feel like moving, but staying still in the pool office was hardly a choice, either. He actually had almost forgotten where they even were. "I'm off in about twenty minutes, I guess I could go home..."

"Let's go, I'll drive you back."

Unable to resist such a tempting offer of going home a whole twenty minutes before he usually did and avoiding the usual pleading with Sora to drive him home, Roxas nodded and slipped off of the desk edge, automatically tugging up his trunks back into place and retrieving his shirt without much thought or comprehension, going so far as to completely ignore the stickiness around his inner thighs. Accepting Axel's outstretched hand, he allowed the taller red-head to lead him outside. The almost forgotten heat smacked into his face like a sledgehammer and he grunted in response, wincing as the bright sunlight invaded his eyesight. The stuffy air rushed over his already heated body. Roxas felt himself getting sleepier.

He only felt the sun on his head and Axel's fingers curled around his as he was dragged out of the pool into the parking lot. After numbly accepting the helmet, tugging it onto his head, then proceeding to slide onto the back of the motorcycle, Roxas relaxed completely.

His arms wound around the skinnier hips of the motorcyclist and, eyes fluttering shut, he leaned forward to rest his head against Axel's bare back. He must have left all of his swimming stuff back at the pool.

Soon enough, there was a roaring sound in his ear and the wind picked up, sliding along his body and cooling him down. But he barely even registered that. All he needed was the warmth emanating from Axel's back and the strange feeling of contentment settling over him.

"Oi, Rox, you're gonna have to tell me where you live, 'cause..."

Axel turned his head to see that Roxas had slumped onto his back, asleep. Laughing softly, he shook his head, shifting his eyes back to the road. "Blonde idiot..."

* * *

"Roxas... Roxas, wake up." 

'_No, leave me alone... the warmth is so nice... _Axel_ is so nice... let me sleep.'_

"Rox, seriously, wake up." The voice turned serious and someone even started shaking him gently. With a soft groan, Roxas eventually relented and cracked one eye open. The slim face of Axel was looked down at him and for some reason, he couldn't feel the floor...

After a few moments of considering and thought, he realized that Axel was carrying him in his arms. Both eyes now wide open, he struggled briefly. "Put me down!"

"About time you woke up..." Axel muttered, but obliged, setting the blonde back down to the ground.

Brushing himself off, Roxas tried to shake off the sleepiness as he looked around, now alarmed. Nothing in the room was recognizable. From the black leather couch to the book-filled shelves along the walls, everything was new to him. "Where are we?"

"Well..."

Roxas raised an eyebrow, watching as Axel grabbed a shirt that was slung over the nearby couch.

"You fell asleep before you could tell me where you live. So..."

Realization had Roxas's eyes widened and groaning, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Lemme guess. We're at your house?"

"Yeah. Don't worry, I just needed to pick up a shirt and quickly call Dem, and then we'll go. Just wait a second, alright?"

"Yeah, alright."

Noticing how wobbly his balance was, Roxas remained planted to the carpeted floor as Axel scurried out of the room, muttering something about finding his cell phone. The blonde decided to explore in the few minutes he had.

Taking the time now to look over the living room, Roxas decided, would give him something to do. He wouldn't be poking his nose into unwanted areas, but, really, getting to know Axel a little better.

And with such a good defense, Roxas tottered forward to poke his nose into unwanted areas. He shuffled through the bookshelves, curiously eyeing the knick-knacks scattered throughout the room, and proceeded to test the comfiness measure of the couch.

If he was rating on a scale of 1 to 10, he'd give it a 20. The piece of furniture felt _amazing_. The cushions sunk in just enough to support him but were squishy enough to be absolutely perfect. Burrowing into the pillows, Roxas sighed in content. Maybe he could befriend Axel. For the sake of the couch.

As he gazed around at the rest of the room, eyes passing over the wide-screen TV and bay windows at the other end of the area, Roxas finally noticed a small blinking light to his left. It was an answering machine, flashing a small number that was very plainly saying, "Hello, you have a new message, now fucking check it or I will continue to blink repeatedly at you until you suffer a minor stroke."

And who would argue with something like that? Unabashedly shifting to the other side of the couch, Roxas reached out and prompted the machine to play back the newest voice mail.

_You have... one new voice message. New message..._

"_Hey, Axel, it's Marly. Larxene called me last night and told me about the bet you did. I swear, man, the way you find loopholes in the plainest things is beyond me. All you had to do was screw up a slurpee machine at the nearest Seven-Eleven. And it seems that the nearest Seven-Eleven for you is the one across town, rather than the one a few blocks away from you. Then again, I can see how you'd prefer the cute blonde that works there, rather than the old guy we have here. In any case, good job on part one. You know what part two is, so go for it. Call me back when you've got that covered. Oh, and... try not to hurt the blonde guy, alright? See ya."_

The line went dead and the answering machine, with what Roxas could've _sworn_ was a hint of smugness, informed him that he had no more new messages.

So that was why he was "Bet-Boy." And why Axel wouldn't really leave him alone. Slowly, he rose from the couch, eyes darkening to a deep sapphire of anger as he turned just in time to see Axel standing in the doorway that he had disappeared into moments before. It appeared that he had heard the message as well.

"... Axel... what the hell is that about?" Roxas said, not daring to raise his voice above a hiss as he pointed at the traitorous answering machine.

A very spooked looking Axel, clutching his cell phone in one hand, was certainly a sight to see. Spotting the look of fury slowly spreading through the blonde's features, he grinned weakly. "Um... about that..."

* * *

This thing turned out a LOT longer than I originally planed. Granted, of course, if it turns out that everyone hates this chapter, I'll probably just end up either re-writing it or deleting it completely to make Special Discount a one-shot again. xD After all, some people _were_ happy with it just being a one chapter fic. 

And my dear otaku friend Sarah has demanded that I give this chapter a little bit of credit to a previous little one-shot I wrote. This was originally as Zoro/Sanji One Piece one chapter fic, but I had it mutate into something more xD

ALSO! Dear little Blue Funk went to Otakon last weekend. It was, of course, absolutely amazing. But I do believe that the best part was, aside from buying big plushies of Roxas and Axel, was witnessing a real-life Akuroku right in front of me. And it was hot. And amazing. And I will forever love the two guys who dropped all of their stuff to start kissing five feet away from me and letting me get a picture xD

If anyone's interested, the picture's on my Myspace xDDD

REVIEWS:D


	3. The Man, the Myth, The Legend, The Idiot

So, uh, after procrastinating, watching a ton of new animes, including Baccano!, Zombie Loan, and re-watching silly stuff like Better Man, I finally got my writing urge back. Sorry for the long wait, guys. xD YES! I am continuing this! We'll see how far this goes. I'm getting a little curious myself. Thank you, once again, for all your reviews. Now that we writers get e-mails for everyone who adds our stories down for alerts or favorites, I'd be great if you guys dropped a review down after you read. Reviews make us update faster, after all. Or, at least, that's how it works with me. xD

Oh, and shameless plugs time. I've got two new one-shots up. And if anyone's a fan of the mafia, The Godfather, of One Piece, check out **Capo di Tutti Capi** on my Marimo screenname.

I'm trying to add in more humor to this story and keep out as many clichés as I can xD (y'know... while adding more smut) Let's see how I do. Without further ado, chapter 3. It's BACKSTORY TIME:D

And no, I do not own Kawasaki motorcycles OR Kingdom Hearts.

* * *

**Chapter 3**

_"The Man, the Myth, the Legend, the Idiot"_

* * *

If one had to describe Axel Hotaru, one would insist that the feat is impossible. 

If one was implored to pick one word, just _one_, that would sum up the man's entire personality and appearance, the reply would be "Surely, you jest."

Or something along those lines.

Naturally, this would only be the case if you asked Axel's acquaintances. His close friends, on the other hand, always had a perfect answer for a question like that.

"Cocky." Demyx would snort and giggle, hanging over his dear friend Zexion, as usual.

"Bothersome." Zexion would then add on, scowling and trying not too look too pleased about the energetic blonde flopped over his shoulders.

Larxene, of course, would have the last word on the matter. She knew Axel the longest, after all. Completely disregarding the "one word" rule, which, knowing the spunky blonde, wasn't anything surprising, she'd proceed to quote song lyrics and head bang. Her answer?

"Hip like bad-ass!"

It goes without question, of course, that Axel was indeed cocky, bothersome, and hip like bad-ass, and he really could not have agreed more with his friends. Those characteristics had become quite undisputable over the years. Few challenged Axel to prove his worth anymore. The college student could have safely added self-assured to his list as well.

But sometimes, a non-believer comes along. This particular specimen was not only doubtful, but drunk as well.

Marluxia hardly even realized at the time that a bleary, half-baked accusation would launch a chain of bizarre occurrences that would lead to our present situation.

In fact, we're still not quite sure if he's realized it.

-------------------------------------

Axel sighed, watching Demyx chase Larxene around the spacious living room. The male blonde was squealing angrily and spluttering out protests, while the shorter girl was cackling as loud as humanly possible. Perhaps it _was_ Saturday night, which was a perfect time to get wasted, and maybe it _did _allow the group of friends to get together at least once a week in the chaos that was their life schedules, but things were getting out of hand tonight.

Larxene had stolen Demyx's gay porn magazine.

This unfortunate event was purely his fault, however. As it was Demyx's night to host their ritual get-together, he had made the slip-up of leaving the group to their own devices for a brief moment. Mistake number one. Mistake number two was giving Larxene alcohol so early in the night. She was already running rampant.

"Give it back! That's not for _you_!"

Larxene belted out another shriek of amusement. "If it's not for me, why'd you leave it lying out in the open like that?"

She had a good point. The space between two couch cushions was hardly the appropriate area for storing away risqué magazines like that. Axel, Marluxia, a new addition to their ritual Saturday nights, and Zexion, who was intently watching his boyfriend tromp about the living room, let this go on for a few more minutes before the red-head had enough. Standing, he nabbed the magazine out of Larxene's hand as she sprinted by, putting a halt to the whole chase.

Panting and pouting, Demyx waved an arm feebly at Axel. "Hand it here."

Quirking a bemused eyebrow at him, Axel flicked open the glossy paged journal and, unwittingly, took a peek in. His eyebrow continued to rise in fascination as he turned the page, but for the most part, he remained unfazed.

"Huh," he finally said, "Didn't know that was humanly possible with two guys and a dildo."

With a short laugh and a grin, he tossed it back to the blonde, who, after an intense amount of flushing, hurried back to his room to hide it properly. Larxene plopped back into her armchair, snickering and pouring herself more beer as Demyx returned.

The quiet evening went on then as usual. More beer was brought out amidst Marluxia's and Larxene's cheers. Zexion remained quiet as usual, keeping a tight hold on his drunkenly giggling partner, and Axel lounged, smoking and laughing at every joke. A DVD that they were half-watching, half completely ignoring completed the background noise and atmosphere. This was how it always was. Drinking, movies, and just general conversation. The group couldn't have asked for more. This was their only night to indulge in life and relax. Hectic agendas and classes took up everything else.

At midnight, Axel put in a new DVD before returning to his single bottle of the night. This absence of drinking was noticed by the group.

Marluxia nodded his head at the red-head, eyes already glassy. "What's with the, ah, not drinking-ness tonight, Ax?" He spurted out, fumbling with the words, already on his fifth beer.

With a shrug, Axel took a sip of his drink, but didn't appear to relish it. While his index and thumb fingers gripped the neck of the bottle, the other three softly tapped at the glass "I've got work tomorrow. I'd rather not be crawling into Xaldin's shop with a hangover."

"Ah ha, he'd slaughter you!" Larxene laughed, downing the rest of her alcohol in one gulp.

The tough man with his fearsome dreadlocks wasn't exactly forgiving enough to allow one of his workers walk into his store only half-coherent. Axel and Larxene worked together in the guns and knives store, and had been witnesses of such an event. An ill-fated coworker had stumbled in one morning with a bottle actually still present in his hand.

The pair hadn't even realized that Xaldin was capable of physically punting people until that day.

The pink-haired man snickered at their words, hiccupping just slightly. Unlike Axel, his family made enough money through his father's firm to avoid any unpleasantries like a _job_. He waved off the explanation with a flick of his finger. "You usually always get wasted on these nights, don't you?"

Again, the smoker twitched his shoulders in response, an easy grin twisting the ends of his mouth upward. "Dunno. I usually ask off for Sundays, but the Boss wouldn't go for it this week." He suddenly laughed, leaning forward to shove his cigarette in an ashtray set on the table. "Maybe I should be getting more responsible."

Demyx giggled shrilly in response and Marluxia nearly choked on his beer. Wiping his mouth impatiently, he put on his best disbelieving face. "You? As if, man. Your whole life's been _ir_responsible, what makes you think you can start now?"

Axel lapsed into silence, smiling at nothing in particular. His strangely somber mood had Zexion and Marluxia exchanging raised eyebrows, but Marluxia's was more of a frustrated persuasion. The well-off teen knew Axel the least amount of time, but even he realized that something was off with the red-head.

Clearing his throat, Zexion leaned forward slightly, a light frown wrinkling his forehead. "Have you got something on your mind, Axel? You seem troubled."

When Axel didn't immediately answer, the psychology major's opened his mouth to repeat himself, but was unexpectedly interrupted.

"Oo, look, that's so badass!" Larxene, who hadn't been paying any attention to Axel, suddenly exclaimed, pointing at the television, where an overblown car chase was playing. Shrugging, the rest of the group allowed the subject to change, letting Axel alone to smoke and think. He, as Zexion had deduced, probably just had a lot on his mind.

Still, the night wore on. By the end of the second movie, Demyx had recovered himself just enough to regain some of his senses, while Larxene and Marluxia had drunk just enough to lose some of them. Zexion remained adamant in not touching any alcohol.

Axel was just considering heading home, glancing at the nearest clock that read 2:15 am, when his friends decided to drag him back into a group activity.

Flicking off the TV, the only female of the group grinned crookedly and sat herself on the arm of the nearest couch, which happened to be the one Axel was sitting on. "Axy! Tell us a story! Tell us about the time you planned our senior prank back in high school!"

Axel grinned, looking up at the eager, albeit drunk blonde. "C'mon, Larx, everyone's heard that story."

"Marly hasn't!"

Slumped in his seat, Marluxia registered his name being said through the alcohol buzz. "Huh? What?"

"Axel's senior prank idea." Demyx chimed in, sitting curled up in an armchair. "It was amazing, Axel, I still don't know how you did it..."

Axel kept his lips quirked in a small smirk, leaning forward. Despite his hesitation, he really did love telling the story. "It took a great amount of finesse. I don't think any of you would have been able to pull it off. Considering the amount of spray paint we had and the chickens-"

The story would have gone on in greater detail at that point, if not for Marluxia's slightly drunken and flustered spluttering. The pink-haired man rolled his eyes dramatically as he interrupted.

"Bullshit, man. You're so fucking _arrogant_. Do you seriously think you can get away with anything?

"I don't see why not." replied Axel calmly, eyeing Marluxia out of the corner of his sharp eyes with an amused look. Releasing his grip on his half-empty beer bottle, he sat back in the armchair to light himself another cigarette.

"Come _on_, man! You can't do everything."

Axel paused, plucking his cigarette from his lips to grin. "Wanna bet?"

Despite the bright blush on his cheeks from the boozing and the way his hands were shaking, Marluxia returned the grin, sitting up straighter in his chair. "Hell yeah. A bet. To prove if you're really all that cocky and almighty as everyone says you are."

Demyx sat up as well, excited and laughing. "Are you serious? What would you even have Axel do, Mar?"

"And what would be on the line?" Zexion added, eyebrow raised.

Waving off the couple impatiently, Marluxia kept his eyes directly on Axel. "I'm getting to that."

Frowning slightly at the confident look in Axel's eyes, he blinked furiously, determined not to be intimidated. Taking a quick second to think things through, he finally cleared his throat. "First, you have to get over to the Seven-Eleven and convince the night-shift worker there to let you get stuff for free."

Larxene giggled shrilly. "Like stealing without stealing? C'mon, who'd go for that?"

The pink-haired man would never tell anyone that he had attempted such a feat just the other day, only to fail miserably and get booted out by the fierce convenience store worker. And if _he_ couldn't get away with it, then he was certain that Axel couldn't, either. Ignoring the side-line challenge, Marluxia continued, eyes narrowed in on Axel's bright green ones. The red-head sat silent, arms crossed over his chest and cigarette hanging from his lips.

"Second thing..." He paused for dramatic effect before continuing. "The next person you see, you have to make a move on them."

The group, which had been silent at this point, burst into laughter. Snickering hard, Demyx shook his head, sympathizing. "That's horrible. The next person could be some old guy..."

"Ah, but if Axel is all that amazing, this shouldn't even faze him." Marluxia sneered.

Axel shrugged, taking in the challenge with only a small uplift of the corner of his lips. Blowing out a puff of smoke, he chuckled. "You certainly know how to set the bar high, Marly. Is that it?"

Perturbed at how Axel didn't seem to be impressed with his challenge, Marluxia decided to add a little twist to his bet. "No, I've got a third thing." He took a deep breath. "Whoever you make a move on, you've gotta get them to ask you out on a date."

Axel couldn't hold back his amusement now. He grabbed his cigarette from his mouth so that he could chortle freely. "And I'm assuming that this is regardless of gender, right? Guy or girl?"

"Shouldn't matter to you, now, should it?" snapped Marluxia, resolutely taking another deep swig of beer.

"Looks like you have a challenge on your hands." Zexion smirked from the other couch.

"Wait, wait." Larxene interrupted, waving her hands as she slid down to sit cross-legged on the floor. "What are the odds here? This is a bet, isn't it?"

"Ah, right." Marluxia hurriedly wiped his mouth. "If you lose, then I-"

"Then you get the pride and honor of knowing that I'm not as amazing as I say I am." Axel abruptly stood, stretching his limbs. "And I'll throw in a twenty for kicks. But if _I_ win, then-"

Marluxia filled it in for Axel. "Then I won't ever challenge you again. Hell, I'll even make sure that everyone else keeps their mouths shut, too. And twenty bucks."

"I accept, then. Twenty dollars and my pride are on the line, it seems." Axel ground his second cigarette into the ash tray before meeting his friends' gazes. With a nonchalant smile, he ran a hand through his hair. "Might as well get started now. I feel that my charming skills are at their peak today."

"Yeah, I bet if you just distracted them enough, you could get a way with it!" Demyx suggested eagerly.

"Anything in particular?"

Marluxia spoke up first. "Get me some new lighters, I'm all out."

"Hmm." Larxene tapped her finger against her chin. "I have a date tomorrow. Could you pick up some condoms?"

"TWINKIES! Axel, get me Twinkies!"

Raising an eyebrow, Axel counted off the items on his fingers. "Alright. Lighters for Marly, condoms for Larxene. For Demyx, I'm getting..." He paused, shaking his head. "... Twinkies. You want anything, Zexion?"

"I'm fine." The mysterious dark-haired boy suddenly smirked. "I just want to watch this all play out. I don't think any good's going to come of this."

"No." The red-head agreed, moving out of the room to grab his coat. "Probably not. But a challenge is a challenge, and you know that I totally can't resist. Don't wish me luck, I've got enough as it is!"

And with a short bark of laughter and a wave, Axel was gone.

------------------------------------

Surely, Axel could have found time to go back and explain this entire story from start to finish at that that precise moment when he walked into the living room to face a furious blonde who was looked about ready to kill him. "Um... about that..."

Roxas took a step forward, mouth curled into a snarl. He immediately began assuming the worst. Axel had lied to him. Had been using him. Had just been a stuck-up asshole this whole time. "Is there something you want to _explain_ to me, Axel?"

Reaching up to distractedly scratch at the back of his head and ruffle the hair there, Axel sighed. It seemed that the jig was up. "Look, I was _going _to tell you at one point. I thought that if I told you now, you'd just freak and leave."

"I'm not freaking," Roxas growled, "but I _am_ leaving."

"No, wait, hold on!" Axel, alarmed at this, jumped forward to snatch at Roxas's arm, holding him there. "How the hell are you going to even get home?"

Glaring at the offending hand wrapping around his elbow, the blonde frowned. He almost seemed to bristle at the touch, because not only did Axel have a firm grip around the light sunburn he had, but because it sent sparks racing underneath his skin. Growing even more irritated at his body's reaction, Roxas tugged again, trying to jerk his arm back. "I'll walk."

"Look, Roxas, just hear me out." Clutching at straws now on how to get the stubborn Roxas to stay, Axel continued to curl his fingers tighter around the warm, tanned arm until he reached out and grabbed Roxas's opposite hand, which had been in the process of trying to drag off his clutching fingers. Squeezing the struggling digits gently, Axel sighed. "Would you just hear me out?"

Caught now, Roxas was burning up, both in anger and in blush form. Furious at the _damned_ butterflies that were smacking up against the wall of his stomach, the lifeguard tried to pull out of Axel's grip, glaring at him. As he looked up, he noticed for the first time the small tattoos etched onto the red-head's cheeks. The red dashes, in turn, made Axel's vivid green eyes stand out. Roxas' mind really did have the worst timing of picking up on the little details.

He ground his teeth together. "There's nothing _to_ listen out, just let me get out of here, Axel. I don't want to have anything to do with this anymore."

The red-head groaned in frustration. "Look, you're overreacting and-"

"Just get your damn hands off of me-!"

The two, now intensely occupied with the argument, failed to hear shuffling footsteps in the doorway behind Axel. The soft laugh and cough also didn't reach their ears. But the eavesdropper finally made his presence known.

"Is this really a time for a lover's spat? Axel, I thought you knew better."

Axel and Roxas immediately snapped their mouths clothes, turning in place, Axel still clutching at the now limp blonde, to face the intruder. Or, in this case, intruders.

"Reno... didn't mean to wake you." Axel relaxed instantly as soon as he saw who it was. Roxas, however, remained on his guard.

What seemed like a taller, older version of Axel was leaning against the doorway, yawning and raking a hand through his long, deep red spikes. At the same time, a drowsy looking man with cropped blonde hair was leaning on him, one arm thrown over his shoulders. The two both had the appearance that they had just awoken. Which, judging from the way Reno's pants were unzipped and the strange blonde's shirt was on backwards, was completely true.

Stifling a second yawn, the one named Reno inclined his head towards Roxas, looking for all the world like wearing a man over his shoulder was perfectly normal and even fashionable. "Who's the cutie?"

"The name's Roxas."

Reno raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "And how old are you?"

Bristling at the all-too common age question, Roxas scowled. "I'm eighteen, going on nineteen, for your information."

"Three years your junior, Axel?" Reno looked back at Axel. "I'm surprised he's legal."

Axel laughed at this, ignoring the death glares Roxas was sending him. "You've done worse, Reno, cut me some slack."

Unexpectedly, the shoulder accessory suddenly snorted, blinking briefly at his surroundings before spotting something familiar: Reno. Flinging his free arm around the man supporting him, he sighed and instantly latched his lips onto the red-head's, regardless of the company or anything in particular.

Roxas couldn't help but stare, somewhat strangely fascinated by the way the two displayed their passion in such a fierce manner.

However, much to Roxas's _un_surprise, Axel didn't bat an eyelash at their behavior.

Instead, Axel sighed as the two in the doorway went into a fierce saliva-exchanging contest. Motioning at the pair, he rolled his eyes. "Roxas, meet my older brother, Reno. And..." He paused, brow furrowing slightly in thought, until it cleared again. "And Rufus... his boss, actually."

"Lovely." Roxas muttered, voice carrying a sardonic bite to it as he eyed the over-eager couple. _What the hell is wrong with this family...?_

"Reno, is Dad home yet?"

Pulling away from Rufus reluctantly, Reno pursed his lips as the blonde groaned and leaned against him again. "Ah, no. Said he'd be home by 6:00, though, if you're wondering."

The living room fell silent for loss of words from Axel, Reno, and Roxas alike. Rufus occasionally made soft moans into Reno's chest, but otherwise, the awkwardness was left to spawn in the living room. As Roxas decided to speak out and maybe even distract Axel enough to get his hands back, which were growing hot in the man's grip, another unknown person stumbled into view from the other side of the doorway. She happened to be blonde as well. She also happened to be wearing a men's dress shirt and only panties.

Brushing the bleach blond locks that looked rather mussed out of her eyes, she looked around at the growing group. "What's... going on?"

"Elena?" With a raise of his eyebrows the only indication that he was surprised, Axel stared at the girl before dragging his eyes back to Reno. "You slept with my ex-girlfriend?"

"Eh, exes." Reno waved it off with a lazy grin, completely unperturbed. "You can have her back, if you want."

Rufus grunted, lifting his head to finally make eye contact with someone other than his lover. "Yeah. She's not that good, anyway."

Roxas just managed to catch a glimpse of the blonde's bloodshot eyes, most likely a result of drinking. He was hung-over. Sadly, that was all Roxas managed to take in before Elena gave off a shriek and smacked Rufus.

"_What_ did you say?"

A full blown argument started up, mostly between Rufus trying in vain to protect himself while Elena kept up a nonstop barrage of screaming and swatting her hands down on every part of the helpless man that she could.

Roxas watched in fascination as Reno simply let them go at it. That's when his hands, still captive, were abruptly tugged to the side, then backwards. Axel was pulling him back out towards the door. Pulling one hand free, he frowned as he saw that Axel remained stubborn in at least keeping a hold on him.

"C'mon, let's go before my old man gets home..." Axel muttered, keeping a firm grip on the blonde.

As soon as there was a door between the squabbling blondes back in the house and the sounds were muffled, Axel appeared to let off some tension and released Roxas. "Let's get to your house, then."

Roxas's eyes narrowed in distrust, looking from the red-head. Instead of answering immediately, he looked about the neighborhood, then back at the house. It was a peaceful neighborhood, mostly with simply brick houses, some with two stories. It was quiet, unlike deeper in the town where he worked. There seemed to be something familiar about the place.

Upon closer inspection, Roxas realized that he had been here before. Sora lived in this neighborhood, as well. Which meant that they were on the complete opposite side of Hollow Bastion, away from his house. There was no way in hell that he could walk back home now. It appeared that he'd have to stick with Axel.

Making an irritated sound under his breath, Roxas followed Axel down the little pathway to the driveway where the red-head's sleek motorcycle was waiting.

Roxas couldn't help the impressed look that he felt coming on. "You've got a really nice bike."

Axel patted the black and red street bike fondly, chuckling. "Ninja's my pride and joy. I bought her myself, actually. I'm still working on her, though, something got into her engine, poor thing."

"I'm not even going to question you referring to the motorcycle as a she when its name is Ninja." Roxas snorted, moving forward to stand beside Axel.

"Well, it really is a Ninja. Pure Kawasaki." He pointed out the brand name emblazed on the side of the shiny plastic. "The Ninja ZX-6R."

Axel slid into the seat, tossing Roxas his helmet as he did so. After a tense moment of protesting on Roxas's part about sitting behind the red-head and having to wrap his arms around Axel's waist, the two finally were ready to go. Wheeling onto a main road, Roxas watched the world blur and felt the wind begin to snatch at his clothes as the bike gained speed. He kept his teeth gritted together to try and ignore how Axel's was still unnaturally warm, even through the light shirt he had thrown on.

Eventually, though, Axel broke the silence. Turning his head the slightest to get a better look at Roxas, he yelled over the wind. "So mind telling me where you live?"

Roxas spoke up to rattle off the instructions, then fell silent again. That is, until curiosity got the best of him. "So are you as worse as your brother or what?"

Axel laughed, stopping on a red light. "No, I don't think I am. Reno's just a little... wilder than I am."

"Which is why he's having threesomes all over the place?"

"Let's just say..." A sly smirk grew on Axel's lips as he revved the engine slightly, watching the traffic light. "Let's just say that Reno and I really like blondes."

Roxas immediately thought Elena and Rufus's hair, about to shrug it off when it struck home that his own hair was straw-yellow. Flushing slightly, he punched Axel's side slightly just as the light turned green.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Just keep driving." Roxas replied smugly, returning his arm to where it had been wrapping around the motorcyclist's hip. The rest of the journey was finished off in silence.

-------------------------------------

Axel stood awkwardly in the living room of the roomy, two-story house as Roxas stormed past him to disappear farther into the house. "Make yourself at home, I guess." Roxas called as he hurried upstairs to his room.

"Even though you're not going to be staying here long enough to get comfortable..." he muttered under his breath, shucking his lifeguard outfit quickly. He hissed as the cheap red trunks slid down his slightly sun burnt legs, but it didn't stop him as he went to seek out a pair of pants to put on.

Meanwhile, Axel took the liberty of settling down on the black couch in the center of the living room. His eyes roamed over the multiple book shelves littered with literature and little interesting knick-knacks alike, the wide-screen TV, the bright bay windows that were letting in the light of the soon-to-be setting sun. The house was warm and welcoming, even if the air was air-conditioned. Not one to fidget or twiddle thumbs, Axel simply lounged, waiting patiently for Roxas to return while staring at the carpet.

He then noticed that another pair of eyes was watching him intently from the far arm of the sofa. Big, round, yellow eyes.

"Kitty..." Axel breathed out, watching the cat. The feline, meanwhile, sat completely still, twitching it's partially rounded black ears that matched the assorted black splotches on its white coat. It merely flicked its tail at him, staring unblinkingly.

Without any sound at all, the cat leapt perfectly into Axel's lap. Flashing him one brief stare, it curled up on his legs, just over his groin, purring all the while. Confused, the red-head looked down at the intruding feline, wondering if he should push it off, when Roxas returned.

"Mickey, leave him alone..."

The red-head turned his head just in time to see Roxas jog down the last set of stairs, holding his shirt in one hand. Taking in the way the pair of sweatpants the blonde had thrown on were hanging quite low on the boy's hips, Axel could see a sliver of very pale skin just by the waistband of the pants, right before it melded sharply into a tanned stomach. It took a bit of willpower for Axel not to lick his lips. The boy had tan lines. He could only imagine how enticingly white and smooth Roxas's inner thighs would be, starkly contrasting with the rest of his sun-kissed body.

Walking out to the couch, Roxas snatched the cat from Axel's lap, sighing as he deposited his pet onto the floor. He looked over at Axel, simultaneously tugging on his shirt. "That's Mickey. Don't mind him; he's just way too friendly for his own good."

"It's fine." Axel shrugged, suddenly grinning. "He probably just likes me. Natural charm, you know."

"I'm sure. Now... Explain." Roxas said tersely, shoving himself down into a chair and glaring at Axel. The blonde had calmed himself down enough to hear the explanation. His face was expressionless as he leaned back and crossed his arms. He watched as Axel met his stare, then looked away again. The smoking man wasn't so full of himself as he was back at the 7-11, or the pool. The idea of explaining his actions seemed to have shaken him, but at the least the awkward feelings they had acquired from Reno's intrusion had passed. The air was still as the blonde waited, but a bit comfortable as well.

"You don't need to tell me the whole story." Roxas spoke again. "The short version will be just fine."

"Nah, I might as well tell you everything."

The red-head launched into the story, leaving out most of the pointless minor details. He watched Roxas's mouth turned farther and farther downwards and his forehead grew more wrinkles. He wasn't pleased.

"... so then, instead of going to the nearest Seven-Eleven on the corner, I went over to yours. I had seen you there before." Axel let out a slow breath. The light from the windows had become brighter. The sun was setting.

"But the guy on the phone, Marluxia, he said that Larxene called him and told him about the bet..."

"Ah, yeah... turns out that the next day, the guy had been so drunk that he had forgotten most of the night. We had to remind him." Axel laughed slightly, but immediately stopped at Roxas's straight face.

"And the reason you totaled the Slurpee machine?"

"I wanted a Slurpee?" blinked Axel, then smiled slightly. "Plus, it served as a distraction. You haven't mentioned yet that I didn't get away with the first part of the bet like I said I would."

Roxas nodded, pulled his legs up to sit cross-legged in the chair. "That was my next question."

"Let's just say I left out a few details to my friends..."

This surprised blonde. "You lied to them?"

"No, I just didn't tell them everything. But they know who you are. That's why they called you Bet-Boy."

"So now..." Roxas thought back to the explanation, eyebrows knitting together. "Now you have to get me to ask you out on a date?"

The red-head nodded, trying to conceal the look of relief from Roxas not murdering him on the spot after his story. "That's the idea, yeah. I don't want to pressure you or anything, Roxas, but I was kinda hoping you would."

"And if I don't? Y'know, you never even bothered asking me my preferences here. For all you knew, I could've had a girlfriend."

"Do you?"

"No, but that's not the point." scowled Roxas, eyes narrowing.

Axel blew out a sigh. "Thank god for that." Grinning, he leaned his chin on his propped up arm, watching for the blonde's reaction.

"Vaginas are overrated, anyway."

The blonde choked slightly, scrambling to conceal the betraying chuckle that had been brought on by Axel's comment. Hiding his amusement, he dragged the tips of his lips down again. "You think of that yourself?"

"You ever hear anyone else say that? It's almost like my motto, actually." shot back Axel, snickering. As soon as his manly giggles died down, he returned to waiting for Roxas to continue his questioning.

Roxas, sobered now, didn't say anything for brief length of time. Halfway through the story, Mickey had returned and cuddled up to his owner, but now, the blonde tossed the cat back to the floor. "You said there was a reason for you coming down to Seven-Eleven. Is that what you were talking about?"

He was careful to keep his voice low, but the undertone of anger wasn't hard to miss. Axel ran some fingers through his hair, wondering on how to word this better. How could one put that he had been watching the blonde for week before the incident, wondering how to snatch him up with an actual agenda in mind, rather than just an urge to get into his pants?

Prior to the bet, Axel had found that Roxas' particular 7-11 was right across from a cheap gas station that the red-head visited every week. It was during one of his late-night rides through Hollow Bastion when he was filling up Ninja's tanks that he spotted the convenience store and, more importantly, the teen that was working the night shift and, at that particular moment, was attempting in vain to hang up a new advertisement over the door.

Axel's eyes traced over the cute butt and the way the back of the kid's hair resembled something akin to a cheese-grater. He was cute. And by the way the blonde was spewing curses and looking absolutely disgruntled, he had a bite to him, as well.

Or, at least, Axel _hoped_ he had a certain... bite to him. The red-head could read people easily, and the worker didn't look like someone who would immediately fall for a random motorcyclist who happened to be of the same gender. Not _everyone_ was gay or bi in this world, unfortunately.

So he had let the blonde be. Until the bet, that is. Axel had sprung on the chance to go and introduce himself to the 7-11 worker, as well as test him out. So far, the homophobe red card had not been drawn, even now. Which was a very good sign.

Tapping an index finger to his lips, Axel said, "That the reason I came was for the bet? No. There was a better reason for that"

"Oh?" Roxas didn't look amused. In fact, he looked somewhat resigned to what had happened now. His spunk had ebbed. And here he had been hoping on maybe even befriending the red-head. Maybe even... but no. Not anymore. Roxas was resolute. As soon as Axel completely explained himself, he would be booted out of the house and made to swear to never get close to Roxas again. Roxas didn't need any more butterflies in his stomach or searing kisses or absolutely _amazing_ hand jobs. No. Definitely not.

"Well, I..." Axel's eyes traveled over to the windows, attracted by a light pattering that he had just heard. It had started raining. "... ah, shit, my bike!"

"Your...?" Roxas blinked, but Axel was already up and out the door, scurrying to his poor Ninja outside.

Desperately trying to cover up his motor bike, Axel fell to his knees, shoving his hand deep into his ride, scrabbling with something. As Roxas wandered out into the increasing rain storm, thunder rumbled above them. Noting in the back of his head that thunderstorms hadn't been in the forecast, the lifeguard walked over to Axel, who was moaning.

"Shi-it... if I had known that it would be raining, I wouldn't have taken Ninja out."

Despite himself, Roxas felt concern well up in his chest. "Why? What's wrong?"

Sitting down on the driveway, Axel shook his head. "Ninja's under repairs still. She can still run and everything, but I can't get her wet. The top of the engines are wide open, they shouldn't be getting water in them at all. I'll have to take her into the shop tomorrow." He muttered, pressing a hand to his temple.

Roxas, unsure of what to say, kept silent as it began pouring. It thundered again as Axel dragged himself back to his feet. Whirling on the shorter teen, he motioned bleakly at the weather. "Look, can I just spend the night? I can't get back home on a broken motorbike."

This time, lightning split the sky and rain droplets were hammering down over their heads. Displeased, Roxas shrugged and stalked back into the house with a simple "Yeah, you might as well."

The house was now dark. Roxas lit lamps as he moved through the house. Axel followed, shutting the front door cautiously, unsure if Roxas would be in the mood to return to his pressing questions. It appeared, however, that the sudden storm had distracted him.

"Come up with me, you'll need to get some clothes." Roxas muttered instead, walking away.

Axel walked after him, noting how silent the house was. "Is anyone home right now?"

"The house is empty for now, my parents are gone until next week, they're on a business trip." Roxas didn't turn his head to look back.

As the pair moved up the carpeted flight of stairs, Axel couldn't resist a grin. The situation was too perfect. Spending the night, apparently alone, in Roxas's house? Yes please.

"Are we going to be sharing a bed?"

Roxas turned at the top of the stairs, heading right down the hall. "Like hell we are. You're sleeping downstairs on the couch, Mr. Uninvited Guest."

Shot down but stubborn, Axel rushed forward just as Roxas paused the door at the end of the hall. He hadn't lit any lights, so it was just barely lit. Not giving him time to turn the handle, Axel pounced, sneaking his arms around the warm body and cornering him.

"If I'm an uninvited guest, does that mean I'm unwelcome?" murmured Axel softly, eyes almost seeming to glow in the darkness as he pressed himself to the blonde. Roxas stiffened, arms pinned to his sides as he looked up at the man who had invaded his personal space. Attempting to keep his cool, he dragged one hand out to grasp the door handle again.

"Very much so. Now get off."

Growing sneakier, Axel moved to lean against the door. "C'mon, Roxas, I know you're not that mean..."

"Hmph." Roxas's only proper response was turning the knob so that Axel tumbled through the doorway, releasing Roxas in surprise as he flopped to the floor.

Casually stepping over the flummoxed Axel, Roxas padded softly into his room, flipping the light switch as he went. Axel was just getting up when the blonde went riffling through his drawer, tugging out a pair of larger flannel pants and a shirt.

He didn't give time to Axel to pull a move again, examine his room, or even take a breath. In one swift move, Axel had clothes slammed into his hands and was shoved back out into the hallway, facing Roxas who was holding the door now.

"Not even a goodnight kiss?" He blinked, unused to being rejected so. This blonde really knew how to turn a guy down.

Roxas sniffed, gripping the edge of the door hard as he tried to ignore the way he could still feel some remnants of Axel's heat on his body. "Bathroom's down on the opposite side of the hall. There are blankets and a pillow in the trunk behind the couch. Good night."

Axel found himself suddenly facing a very solid door that was inches away from his nose. It was going to be a long night.

------------------------------------

A few hours later, thunderstorm raging obscenely outside, and Axel was 100 percent convinced that it was going to be a very, very long night. He couldn't sleep. And it wasn't that the clothes were uncomfortable. They smelled clean and of Roxas at the same time, which was a very pleasant combination. Nor was it the couch or blankets. They were both comfortable and soft. Even the storm wasn't bothering him, Axel prided himself in sleeping through worse things.

Alas, it wasn't any of the above. It was Roxas, and he didn't even know it.

Swirling and prodding thoughts of the cold blonde were keeping Axel awake. He couldn't put his finger on why, but it was bothersome. The fact that the lifeguard/Seven-Eleven worker could be so firm in rejecting him wasn't surprising, but it seemed that Roxas didn't even want to return to what they had had back in the pool office or the convenience store.

How the hell was he going to get him to ask him out on a date?

Axel frowned up at the ceiling. _This bet is _not_ supposed to be this hard. In fact, Roxas isn't even supposed to be this resistant. I should've picked someone else... seriously._

His eyes began fluttering down and the incessant spattering of rain against the windows fell back to a soft background noise. Rolling over, Axel burrowed into the pillow and relaxed again, allowing his mind to drift off into slumber.

Drift... drift... _drift_...

Only to have a certain cat yowl and leap on his head. Yelping in shock, Axel shot straight up to drag off Mickey and hold him out at arm's length. The cat continued to struggle and flail its tail erratically, hissing and mewling loudly.

"What the fuck is wrong with _you_? Man-cat troubles or something?" Axel raised an eyebrow, standing with a mind to deposit the cat on Roxas's head instead. It was his pet, after all.

The trip back upstairs was a painful one. The house was dark and unfamiliar, but finally, after two sorely injured toes, Axel made it back to Roxas's room. He didn't bother knocking, but crept in instead.

Here, the windows provided at least a little illumination. Axel could see a lump on the bed at the far end of the door, the foot of it facing the door. Lightning flashed and Axel could see a glimpse of blonde hair, too. Tip-toeing forward, holding the occasionally hissing cat under his arm, Axel made it to the edge of the bed.

The boy was sleeping on his side, facing Axel. His bangs fell over his eyes and his arms were curled up by his chest as he slumbered. Resisting the urge to coo at the cuteness, Axel instead poked Roxas.

"Oi, Roxas, your cat is acting weird." Roxas didn't respond, so Axel repeated the action, whispering loudly.

"_Roxas_. Your cat is acting like it's on crack, what the hell do I do with it?"

Roxas groaned, eyes barely opening as he looked dazedly in the direction of the voice. "Wh-what..?"

"Cat. Annoying. What the fuck?" Axel grumbled, keeping the words short so the half-asleep teen could understand.

With a soft moan, Roxas tried to sit up. "It's not mine..."

Axel looked down at the pet. It was most assuredly Mickey, who had now calmed down and hung lump in his grip. "It's not ... yours?"

Suddenly groaning in annoyance, Roxas rolled over. "Just put him in the drawer, I'll get him later. He needed ironing, anyway..."

This particular statement had Axel half-snickering, half shaking his head in wonder. The boy was awake enough to produce coherent sentences, but still so asleep that the sentences didn't make sense.

"Right. I'll just leave him here, then, shall I?" Depositing Mickey onto the edge of the bed, Axel, despite his instincts to go up and cuddle with the blonde, set back towards the door. "Get back to sleep, then."

As Axel was closing the door, he could hear Roxas muttering something along the lines of, "No, I don't need any orange juice..."

-------------------------------

Strangely enough, Axel immediately fell asleep on the couch after that. The next morning and a grouchy looking Roxas found the red-head lying on his stomach, face buried in a pillow, sleeping soundly.

"Axel, wake up." Roxas said, scratching at his bed-head as he stared down at his guest. "Axel. Wake up. Axel!"

The last yell got Axel going. Flinching at the sound of his name, he grunted into the pillow. Good. Now Roxas had his attention.

"Get up, it's already almost noon."

The red-head slowly stretched out all of his limbs, stiffening them. At first, it resembled a sort of Superman position, until Axel groaned in relief. As he rolled over, yawning and rubbing at one eye, he said, "Nothing like a good stretch. Ah, good morning, sunshine."

The slight frown and the way one of his eyes was twitching completed Roxas's "sunshine" appearance. He waited impatiently as Axel rubbed his face awake and sat up before putting his plan, which he had spent the past hour going over, into action.

Roxas took a deep breath, stopped, then moved forward to sit down on the edge of the couch. "Come to Otakon with me."

The sentence at first didn't sink in. It was too early for foreign words. Axel blinked. "Come to _where_ with you?"

"Otakon." Roxas repeated, folding his hands in his lap as he kept his tone casual. "It's an anime convention and I want you to come with me."

Axel paused, mulling this over, then, satisfied, let a wide grin stretch his mouth as he, sat up to lace his arms around Roxas's waist. It was definitely not too early to understand that the words "come with me" were of a positive sort. Pulling the way blonde close, he purred into his ear. "Is that a _date_?"

Trying once again to remain unfazed, Roxas rolled his eyes. "Yeah, if you want to count three whole days down in Baltimore a date, sure."

Axel's grip fell slack. His sleepy mind fell short. "...three whole... _wher_e?!"

"Oh yeah." Roxas unexpectedly snickered, pulling away easily and walking out of the room towards the kitchen. "You're definitely coming with me."

It was time for payback, and it would most certainly be a lot worse than Slurpee in his hair.

* * *

Please note, this isn't fully proof-read, but I'm totally tired and will get back to it soon. 

And I apologize for the long chapter, but loss of smut D: Chapter 4 will be amazing, smut-wise, so bear with me. xD Or go read my one-shots, they're pretty awesome, too.

-flying desk to face for blatant plugs- REVIEWS :D ?


	4. Partial Truth and the Trip

I know I take too long to update. I'm so very, very sorry. I have some random things to say:

Can you say three new Kingdom Hearts games? My god. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days makes me want to go run around and squee for hours. And so did the new One Piece dub from FUNIMATION. WOO. I know the Muffin Man and he totally reads Special Discount. And distracts me from writing Special Discount. And I love The Demon Ororon.

But! I have some fanart. Mellorine drew me a complete crack picture. And Lara drew me an amazing scene from chapter three. You can see them in my profile. Otherwise, I have nothing to say! Thanks for all the reviews, guys! I love you all! I don't know what I'd do without you, honestly. Let's get this baby to ... 210 reviews! Maybe?

I don't KH. Or any other thing mentioned in this chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 4**

"_Partial Truth and the Trip"

* * *

_

Axel sat back on the couch, mulling over the just recent event of being asked to come with Roxas on a three day trip. The prospect was unbelievably tempting. Three days with the blonde. Three whole fucking days. _Anything_ could happen in three whole fucking days.

Most importantly, _sex_ could happen in three whole _fucking_ days. Emphasis on the fucking bit.

As the red-head watched Roxas's cute butt sway away from him into another room, presumably the kitchen, Axel couldn't help but frown. They lived in humble little Hollow Bastion City, Ohio. Baltimore, Maryland... was not _near_ Hollow Bastion, Ohio. At all. There was a huge mass of Pennsylvania between them. That was at _least_ a six hour drive.

Check a map, he was totally right.

Staring down at the dull plaid pants he was wearing, Axel found himself musing and going through mental calculation. This "Otakon" was in a week. What exactly did one do at an anime convention? He didn't have many friends who were fans of that stuff. Demyx and Zexion dabbled in some weird ya-wee or ya-yo shit in their spare times, he knew that. The two refused to ever elaborate on what exactly it was, though. Other than that, Axel may have caught an episode of Pokemon or something on TV once more twice. That was anime, right?

With a light sigh and another stretch of his limbs, the red-head moved to tug his phone out from his pile of clothes by the couch. When he had changed into Roxas's stuff, he hadn't had anywhere else to put it.

As it so happened, the huddle of jeans and a shirt was inhabited by a familiar furry thing.

"You just can't stop bothering me, huh?" Axel shoved Mickey out of his clothes and continued his search for his cell phone. The spotted cat purred at him briefly before stalking away upstairs, presumably offended. The motorcyclist paid the pet no mind, having already flipped open his phone. Two missed calls, both from Demyx. Ah well. They could wait. He had more important matters to deal with at the moment. Such as Roxas yelling at him from the other room.

"Oi! Do you want coffee or what?" The annoyed blonde's voice filtered into the living room. Axel could just pick up a faint smell of the hot morning drink starting to permeate into the room. He grinned.

"Coffee? You making me breakfast, Roxas?" Axel called back, sitting back on the couch to prop his head on the pillow. He was quite comfortable here; he didn't want to get up. The bright morning rays were filtering in through the windows as the large fiery thing rose over the horizon...

Axel did a double-take. He could've sworn than Roxas had said it was almost noon. By the way the sun had just risen, it wasn't even past 10:00. A check of the time on his cell phone confirmed it. It was just about 9:30 now.

Roxas. The sneaky bastard, tricking him into making him wake up early. Now Axel was definitely not getting up. Resolute in his decision, he smirked to himself and burrowed back under the blanket. Breakfast could wait, too.

As soon as he had dozed off again, several cries from Roxas to come get his damn coffee going by unnoticed, the blonde had stormed back into the living room, looking irked, with two steaming coffee mugs in his hands. His mood didn't improve when he spotted that the red-head had just decided to get back to sleeping.

Axel had probably noticed the actual time. Roxas frowned, staring at the sleeping red-head. Axel had stretched out as far as he could on the couch, one arm tucked beneath his head, the other flopped out over the blanket. Roxas's expression softened as he observed the older boy, setting down the ceramic mugs onto the nearby coffee table. All the while, his eyes grazing over a slightly open mouth, a twin set of red tattoos, mussed crimson spikes splayed out over a pillow. Axel almost looked like... like...

An _asshole_ who wouldn't wake up and get his _damn_ coffee.

Roxas's attention was snatched up by a sudden tune playing from the floor. It almost sounded like Beethoven's 5th, if not for the fact that it was muffled. Even odder, the song appeared to be playing from a pile of clothes by the couch. Axel's clothes. With a quirk of an eyebrow, Roxas squatted down to ruffle a hand through the jeans and shirt, knuckles eventually scrapping against a wildly vibrating plastic object.

"Huh. A call from Marluxia. What're the odds." muttered Roxas, a small grin lighting up his face as he observed the phone he had just discovered. He glanced over at the slumbering Axel, then back to the phone, before flipping it open.

"Hello?"

"Axel?" A confused, deep voice came from the other end. Roxas could only imagine what this freak looked like who had made Axel get into this bet. He probably had a funny hair cut and wore pink all the time or something. It was a stretch, but Roxas wasn't in the best of moods.

"Axel's a little busy at the moment." He smirked, looking back to watch the comatose Axel. "Can I take a message?"

Marluxia paused for a moment, silence stretched out between them before he spoke. "Wait, is this Roxas?"

The man had figured it out faster than Roxas had hoped. "It is. Like I said, can I take a message?"

"Where's Axel?"

Coffee forgotten, Roxas tilted his head to one side, foot tapping the floor impatiently now. This Marluxia just didn't know how to take a hint. "He's right in front of me, sleeping."

There was a surprised laugh. "Wait, what, you guys slept together already?"

Roxas's jaw dropped. "What? No! Why the hell would I do that? The guy's an asshole, why would I sleep with him?" He hissed into the phone, unaware of Axel's stirring.

"Whatever, kid, keep talking." Roxas was almost certain that Marluxia was smirking now. "Anyway, can you tell Axel that we're meeting at Zex's tonight? Larxene cancelled. Oh, you're invited, too, blondie."

"Blondie-what-you..." spluttered the lifeguard, but he only received a cheery "See ya!" in response before the line went dead. Roxas could almost feel a headache coming on. It seemed that he was well-known in Axel's group of friends. Typical.

In irritation, the blonde flung Axel's phone back into the clothes pile. Fuming, he glared at the wretched thing, then realized that he had an even better thing to take his feelings out on. Axel himself. Snapping his head up, he turned his furious gaze on the slumbering idiot, only to see that Axel was awake and grinning.

"You shouldn't have picked up the phone." The older teen snickered, both hands folded behind his head now. Amused smile growing at Roxas's growing frustration, Axel's stuck his tongue out impishly. Roxas stared at him a moment longer before a growl ripped from his throat. The blonde unexpectedly flung the blanket off of Axel's body.

"Why aren't you wearing a shirt?"

That was the first thing Roxas managed to blurt out as he stared at Axel's splayed out body. Before he knew it, his eyes were roaming over the pale chest, the light abs chiseled into his torso, and, to his horror, they got stuck on the nipples. The _nipples_. What was he, a pervert? He tore his gaze away to look Axel in the face, trying to ignore the knowing smirk stretching the red-head's lips.

"It's summer, Roxas. It's hot during the night." Axel whined mockingly, running his fingers through his hair in a vain attempt to fix up the spikes.

Roxas scowled at Axel, forehead crinkling with annoyance before he snorted and proceeded to turn on his heel, ready to return to the kitchen. "Whatever." He didn't have to deal with this. The idiotic red-head wasn't even supposed to be here anymore.

Unfortunately, his disgruntled retreat was restricted by the surprisingly strong legs that had come up to wrap around his waist in a pincer-like movement.

"The hell are you doing?" growled Roxas, craning his head backwards to shoot Axel the most murderous glare he could manage. This morning was proving to be too much. First the phone call, now this. "Get off."

"No." chuckled Axel, crossing his legs neatly at the ankles to make sure Roxas wouldn't get away; he sat up slightly to snatch at Roxas shirt and tug him back. "I don't want you to go yet. You owe me a good morning kiss for waking me up too early."

"I don't owe you anything." Roxas tried to tug himself away, turning in place to face Axel, who looked quite comfortable for one who was stuck keeping his legs raised in a position like that. Shifting himself, Roxas's stomach made gentle contact with the red-head's groin and he frowned as the red-head's next words.

"You know you want to."

Roxas snorted lightly, crossing his arms over his chest, keeping firm eye contact with Axel. "I still haven't forgiven you for the shit you pulled on me for the bet." The blonde's eyes narrowed. "Otakon or not."

"But you love me." crooned Axel innocently, squeezing the blonde gently with his legs. "And you want me to come with you on that stupid trip because you'd miss me, otherwise."

"What makes you think that you've wriggled that far into my life already?"

Roxas thought back to the week of morning woods caused by dreams of the red-head. The red-head that actually _had_ wriggled into his life after that ridiculous incident back at Seven Eleven. The red-head that had then shown up at his pool and practically seduced him _again_. The red-head then had managed to work out the situation so that he stayed the night at Roxas's house. The red-head with his sly grins and sneaky laughs. The red-head who was currently shirtless and lying on his couch, flannel pants illegally low on his hips. The red-head who had trapped him in-between his legs and was trying to look innocent, but failing miserably.

Roxas gulped slightly, realizing what he had gotten himself into, if the devilish little grin Axel was giving him told him anything.

"You haven't kicked me out yet, right?" pointed out Axel. "Because I know you're not gonna protest about what I'm about to do."

"What're you gonna do-gah!" Roxas's question was cut short as Axel abruptly snatched out at the blonde's shirt and pulled hard, dragging the smaller boy down to flop onto him awkwardly. A swift little upward tug of his legs also had Roxas's ankles tangled up with the red-head's on the couch as the Roxas tried to scrabble for something to prop himself up on that wasn't Axel.

His hands found purchase on the cushions after he had hastily slid his hands over Axel's bare chest. _Damnit_. That hadn't been intentional. Looking murderous again, and hoping that the flush over his cheeks wasn't too noticeable, Roxas pushed his upper body up, bangs flopping into his eyes.

"I'm protesting. There's no way you're getting away with anything in my house. Or on this couch."

To his surprise, Axel merely shrugged, clasping his hands over his chest as he shifted back into the sofa cushions. "Then let's talk."

"_Now_? Like _this_?" Roxas blinked, ignoring the warmth that was travelling into his body that was spreading into his from Axel's.

"Yeah. Talk. Tell me about this Otakon thing." Axel tilted his head to the side, red spikes shifting over the pillow as his green eyes glittered up at the flabbergasted blonde.

The truth was that Axel didn't want Roxas to be so angry at him. Really, the blonde needed to take a few chill pills and calm down. He was always so _cranky_ around him. So a little bit of talk while the red-head had Roxas where he wanted him would hopefully cool the flustered idiot. He obviously hadn't gotten over the bet, even with the Otakon invitation, so Axel would have to prove that his intentions were sincere. Well. Most of them.

"You want to know _now_?" Roxas's arms were already shaking from propping himself up for so long. The problem was solved shortly after as Axel's arms teased around his waist, tugging the blonde back down onto himself. Roxas collapsed with a soft 'mph', arms flopping uselessly now on either side of the red-head.

Axel laughed softly in response, chest vibrating slightly. "Now's a good time as any. Especially since it's not actually noon and we have the whole morning to discuss."

"Hmm." Roxas propped his chin up so that he could at least see Axel's face. His tone changed to a more serious one as his blue eyes flashed past the blonde bangs crowding his forehead. "How about you tell me the real reason you came to Seven-Eleven a week ago, instead?"

"Heh." Axel sighed softly, fingers gently now pressing into Roxas's hips in a sort-of massage. He mused about the question, eyes flicking towards the ceiling. "I don't think you'd believe me if I told you."

"It'd make me feel better, at least.." Roxas frowned. "Because right now, I'm pretty pissed off at you."

Axel's fingers moved now to start doodling over his sides and Roxas felt his body go slack as he relaxed. The blonde closed his eyes tiredly. "You don't have a very credible story for one who just wandered into a convenience store for the sake of a fucked up bet and ended up giving me a hand-job."

The red-head winced slightly. "You had to put that so bluntly, didn't you?"

Roxas said nothing, a motionless, splayed-out lump on top of Axel. The red-head's legs remained meshed with his, ensuring that the blonde couldn't escape. The living room, lit brightly with the morning sun, went silent as Axel searched for the right words to say and Roxas sighed in resignation. He knew it, the idiot didn't have a good reason. There wasn't any other purpose for his coming than the bet.

What had he been expecting? A declaration of adoration? It was fate? Roxas would have rolled his eyes if they were open. As if. Things like that didn't happen anymore. Axel probably just wanted a good fuck and-

"It's complicated." Axel said suddenly, breaking through Roxas's train of thought, arms involuntarily tightening around the smaller boy. He stared off past the blonde spikes, frowning to himself.

"Lemme guess." Roxas smirked grimly, sitting up just slightly again to cross his arms over Axel's to hold himself up. "Love at first sight?"

"No. And not to get into your pants, either." At Roxas's disbelieving snort, the red-head protested, nudging Roxas's sides with pokes. "No, really! I'm serious! That wasn't the whole reason."

The blonde continued bitterly snickering to himself, shaking his head. "Yeah, alright."

Axel eyed the crooked little grin on Roxas's lips and pouted just slightly. "You don't believe me."

"Of course I don't! Give me one good reason I should."

Axel still didn't know how exactly to phrase what he wanted to say; 'I saw you one night and thought you were completely adorable?' or 'I just wanted to meet you and get to know you better, because you look so fuckable when you're angry?'

Yeah, ok.

With a slow exhale, Axel decided it would be better if he tried things his own way. Things would be so much easier if he had a cigarette, but now really wasn't the time. He eyed the suspicious glint in Roxas's gaze and shrugged, skimming his hands still idly up and down the blonde's side. Roxas had yet to protest about it.

"You know how sometimes when you go into a new class in the beginning of the school year and you kind of automatically can tell who you can be friends with and who you'd rather stay away from?"

Roxas didn't see where this was going, but his face went blank as he listened, head dropping to rest his chin on his folded arms. Axel continued.

"That's how it was for me. I saw you before, from across the street from the Seven-Eleven, at the gas station."

Roxas nodded in understanding, saying nothing.

"And there you were. I dunno, it wasn't a sort of flash of light thing, but you looked cute and that's when I thought it'd be cool to meet you and get to know you one day."

"And _then_ get into my pants." Roxas concluded shrewdly.

Axel laughed gently. "Yeah, you could say that."

"Very poetic explanation." The bland comment from Roxas had Axel laughing harder. Roxas couldn't help but allow the tense mood to lift and he found himself relaxing again. He had unknowingly stiffened during Axel's mini-speech. Axel's enthusiastic laughs had his stern frown lifting upwards just slightly.

"Drama major." Axel finally grinned. "I can't help myself."

The blonde couldn't fight back the intrigue. Drama? An unbidden image of Axel dressed in Shakespearean attire, spouting Olde English to a skull came to his mind. And that, in itself, was completely bizarre. Roxas's eyebrows lifted as he stared at the motorcyclist who was still warming the skin at his hips. "A drama major? Seriously?"

"Three years of it so far at RGU." nodded Axel. "Along with minors in other stuff, but I don't like them as much as my theater shit."

Roxas allowed that slice of information to sink in, one part of him curling in horror. Axel was going to the same college as him, oh god oh god no. Then, a second bit reared up in anger, instead.

"See, this is what annoys me the most!" Roxas blurted out suddenly, sitting up again as Axel twitched in surprise. "We've already gotten this far, but I don't know anything about you! We haven't even introduced ourselves properly to each other."

Axel blinked, searching Roxas's angry features. The blue eyes were flashing in irritation. It was true, though. The two had met randomly and were practically strangers. He had just found out Roxas's age the other day. Naturally, he had sighed in relief to himself that the kid wasn't underage. He didn't think he could've dealt with actual legal problems, like having sex with a minor. Roxas was enough trouble as it was.

He lifted one hand to scratch at his head, tattoos on his cheeks shifting as he pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Do you want to start over, then?"

"I think it's a little late for that." Roxas's lips were curling. Damn, did the blonde have a short temper. Luckily, Axel could handle it.

"It's never too late for something like this. Let's start. Name, age, school." Axel wiggled his body slightly to prop his shoulders up on the pillow. Extending his free hand, the red-head smiled. "Axel Hotaru, age 21, going to be a senior at Radiant Garden University.."

Roxas stared down with a blank expression at the proffered hand, then back at Axel's grinning face. "You're kidding." He said dully, both in terms of what Axel had just said, and the entire idea of the introduction. The red-head's eager expression didn't fade. In fact, he seemed to look even more amused.

"No..." Axel shook his head slowly. "That's not what you say. You start out with 'My name is Roxas...'"

Roxas snorted, irked slightly at the slow manner in which Axel was speaking, but grudgingly gave in. He tugged out arm out from underneath himself and grasped Axel's hand firmly, shaking it. "Roxas Mitsu..."

"Mitsu's a kick-ass last name." Axel abruptly interrupted. "Sounds Japanese. Does it mean anything?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah." Roxas squinted one eye briefly, recalling back to what his high school sensei had told him. "It means either light or honey."

Axel smirked to himself, and Roxas, not noticing, continued. "_Any_way... I'm eighteen. And going on to be a freshman at..." The blonde hesitated, coming to a halt again, reluctant to suddenly give out the certain tidbit of detail.

"Yes...?" Axel raised an eyebrow as their slow handshake finally ended. The drama major placed Roxas's hand onto his shoulder before returning his own to the blonde's side.

"... at Radiant Garden University." mumbled out Roxas, flushing suddenly. His fingers twitched. He braced himself for whatever Axel was about to throw at him, be it laughter or promises of seducing him every time they would meet in the halls. It seemed like the Axel thing to do.

Instead, the red-head threw Roxas for another loop. He 'hmm'-ed and nodded instead, still watching the blonde intently. "Cool. Maybe I'll see you there. RGU's a good school, you'd probably like it. What're you majoring in?"

"Well, I got in with a swimming scholarship," Roxas felt his foul mood lifting and continued. "But I'm going for Communications right now."

Axel tilted his head again. "Like media and video and news anchoring?"

"Yeah, something like that." The blonde's lips lifted in a small smile. He couldn't help but notice the way Axel's legs were still wrapped around his protectively or how strangely comfortable he was, lying on top of Axel. And yet here they were, having what would otherwise be a perfectly normal conversation, sprawled across his living room couch, going through introductions, no less. The strangest part was that Roxas couldn't bring himself to admit that he didn't like it.

Like he didn't want to acknowledge how Axel was warm and his presence was reassuring. His laughter and grins were infectious. How was it that even after having a rather cold exchange, they had picked the conversation right back up just as easily?

"Well, Roxas Mitsu, it's a pleasure to meet you." Axel's eyes gleamed in the morning air. "Let's make out."

Now, _that_ wasn't going according to plan. "Wh-what? Mph!"

Axel's hand had come sneaking up to curl around the back of his head, threading through the blonde spikes that were still as soft as ever before tightening his grip and pulling him down into a kiss. It seemed that this was the only way to shut him up.

Roxas, to give him credit, tried to struggle at least a little bit. Surely, not now, on the couch? He tried to push at Axel's shoulders to release him, but the red-head had a good grip on his waist. So intent was Roxas on struggling that he hardly noticed how the lips moving against his were growing more insistent. He did, however, manage to register the tightening on his hip, but a fraction too late as Axel rolled them over, sandwiching the blonde between the back of the couch and himself.

"Axel!" Roxas suddenly gritted out, hands scrabbling over the red-head's bare chest. "Get the fuck off!"

"No, the time for talking is over..." murmured Axel, fingers smoothing through Roxas's hair. The red-head had obligingly held off on the snogging thus far, but enough was enough. It was early morning and he had had the blonde sprawled over his body for the past five minutes. It was time for a little reward for his good behavior. Going with that thought, Axel focused back in on the scowling, but obviously defeated blonde. The ruffled hair and scowling face look fit Roxas, strangely enough. Sexy disgruntlement, perhaps?

Axel lowered his mouth to Roxas's ear, feathering his lips gently over it. "I want to see if you taste like honey, Roxas Mitsu."

"D-Damnit Axel..." Roxas squeaked out as a particularly sharp bite to his ear sent shivers down his spine. He couldn't handle this now. Not when his feelings about Axel were in such a jumble. Not when Axel was using his low purring voice again. Of course, the pile of his mixed emotions - the anger, the annoyance, the lust, the confusion - all of it got crushed into one and tossed out of his mind as slim, warm finger tips snuck beneath his shirt and coasted over his chest. "Not on the damn couch..."

His protest gurgled into a soft sigh. Axel returned to kissing, teeth darting out to snatch Roxas's bottom lip, swiping his tongue over it as well. Another tender nibble to the flesh had Roxas taking in a shaky breathe and Axel was more than eager to plunge inside the open mouth, tongue swiping over every part it could reach, smoothing over the blonde's tongue, instigating it into action. Roxas remained stubborn and unmoving.

As Axel pulled back, Roxas couldn't resist a small smug expression as he watched Axel lick his lips, green eyes glazed.

"So?" He murmured. "Like honey?"

"Mm." Axel rolled his hips gently, Roxas hissing in response as a part of his lower body twitched in response. The husky voice was melting over him, sending goosebumps over his arms.

"Better than honey, even."

The blonde laughed gently at the compliment, spark returning after the initial shock of being pinned to a couch. "I wouldn't say the same about yourself."

The red-head nudged their bodies another quarter-turn, finally managing to get Roxas underneath him. Their original positions were reversed now. With the blonde splayed out like that, yellow spikes fallen haphazardly over the pillow and arms lying uselessly by his side, he looked practically _edible_. Axel marveled at how he had managed to wait it out so long to get around to this. Head cocked to the side, he acknowledged Roxas's comment.

"Oh?"

There was a 'hrm' in reply, but Roxas didn't have a chance for a full sentence as the same pair of warm hands returned to traveling up and down beneath his shirt. He shuddered. Axel was purring again. Damn red-head and his feline noises.

"What do I taste like, then?" asked Axel, nudging the tips of their noses gently together as his thumbs harshly flicked at the blonde's sensitive nubs on his chest.

Roxas groaned, eyes fluttering shut as a sly smirk quirked the tips of his lips. "I dunno, you might have to refresh my memory."

The flirtatious tone in the blonde's voice was more than enough to get Axel to dive back in again. This time, Roxas was ready. As their mouths opened and tongues slipped out to contest against each other, the blonde grabbed Axel's wrists, stopping his movements as he pushed his lips back against the red-head's.

Axel himself was occupied, biting at Roxas's swollen lips teasingly and occasionally shifting his hips down. As their mouths moved slowly against each other, the red-head shifted his body to lie in-between Roxas's legs, knee brushing over the obvious bulge in Roxas's sweatpants. Eventually, the two needed to pull away again. The need to breathe had overpowered the two of them. Roxas was the first to move his head back, breaking the thin connecting trail of saliva between them.

"Cigarettes." he panted, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand before shifting his arms to wrap them around Axel's neck. "Why am I not surprised?"

"You know you like it." Axel was free to move again. He was eager to investigate the blonde's body, to see the tempting tan line and the pale inner thighs. But first things first: the shirt had to go. Being shirtless himself, he was eager to have skin-on-skin contact again. The memory of the previous day in the pool office was still fresh in his mind.

His fingers slipped beneath the light material and tugged upward. Roxas didn't protest, but merely lifted his arms to allow the clothing to slide free. His blue eyes followed the trail of descent as his shirt was flung away, only to be brought back by a particularly sharp bite to his neck, followed by gentle licks and sucking of the skin. That was going to leave a mark.

"Wonder if it tastes like honey somewhere else..." Axel was laughing lowly, his heated breath smoothing over Roxas's own flaming skin as he traced his lips over Roxas's collarbone, the blonde starting to squirming in place from the attention.

Roxas was losing his ability to respond. The touches and kisses were just like the ones back at the pool, they were turning his brain to mush while setting his body aflame. He whimpered gently as a mouth wrapped around one of his nipples, sucking at it.

"A-Axel..." He grit his teeth, back already arching slightly in response to the ministrations to his chest. He was getting hard, he really couldn't fight it anymore, not since his treacherous body knew that he wanted it. Axel hummed, giving the right nipple one last teasing bite before moving to the other one. All the while, his hands snuck down, slipping beneath the waistband of Roxas's pants to curl around and cup the blonde's tempting butt. Roxas squeaked in response, the hands he had linked behind Axel's neck shaking.

It didn't take long to Axel to move on, planting light kisses on his way down, hair trailing over his shoulders to tickle Roxas's sensitive stomach. As he paused to tenderly nuzzle the warm, quivering tummy, he tugged down Roxas's pants, slowly, teasingly, making sure that the waistband dragged right over the blonde's erection, dragging out another low moan from him.

Eagerly, Axel lifted himself to watch as he revealed more skin, inch by inch, until the pants were lifted free of Roxas's ankles and were flung away to the floor to join the shirt. He had been right. Roxas had a viciously obvious tan line. From low on his hips, the sun-kissed color changed drastically to a soft, pale hue, returning back to the honey-brown just above his knees. The boy's thighs looked so touchable, Axel found himself staring at them with glazed over eyes as he ran his fingers gently over the dips in Roxas's hips, sliding the tips past the tan-line.

Roxas unexpectedly pushed his hips upward and tugged at Axel's neck, drawing all of Axel's attention to the hard cock not too far away from his face. The red-head looked up to see the flushed face of the boy beneath him, swallowing. "Have you ever done anything like this before?"

An eye twitched. Roxas suddenly glared and from Axel's view, it looked too cute.

"Does it really matter?"

The red-head coasted his hands over Roxas's inner thighs, keeping the younger teen hot and bothered as he kneaded at the pale flesh. "To me, it does, but I suppose not."

There was a harsh pull on Axel's hair. Roxas's toes were curling in _need_. Damnit, why didn't Axel do anything already? He had Roxas right where he wanted him, lying beneath him, now completely naked. "Just _go_..."

The red-head's eyebrows lifted just slightly. "You really want this." he said. It wasn't a question, but a soft statement. The blonde huffed in frustration.

"_Obviously_. Would you just do it already?"

The moment was too good to pass up. Axel continued running his hands up and down Roxas's legs, face temptingly close to the blonde's cock, and yet oh so far away. A mischievous grin came to the red-head's lips. "What do you want me to do, Roxas?" He whispered, eyelids lowering to half-mast.

Roxas angry retort died in his throat suddenly as a smooth hand ran temptingly close to his erection. Axel wanted him to _say_ it? That was really asking too much. He bit down on his lip, fingers tightening in the red spikes he was clutching at. "You know what I want you to do..." He whined, legs quivering from the teasing touches on his thighs.

"Maybe, maybe not... should I guess?" Axel chuckled gently, amused at how needy the blonde was. Leaning down, he kissed at the side of Roxas's leg, hair just barely brushing over the pre-cum oozing cock that was demanding attention. Axel's own cock was straining, even through the loose flannel pants. The temptation to simply fuck the blonde into the couch was overwhelming, but the idea of teasing Roxas was stronger at the moment, especially since he was impatient for it.

Roxas lifted his legs up and over Axel's shoulders automatically at that. "No... _there..._"

Axel licked his way up until his cheek was rubbing at the stiff length. He kissed at the junction where the leg met the groin. "Here?"

"_Damnit_, Axel..." gasped Roxas, quivering from the sensations he had gotten from where Axel had just scraped by his aching erection. His fingers had gone slack, sliding loosely through Axel's hair. The older teen made a small sound of realization.

"Ah, that's what you want..." Axel sighed, smiling sweetly and sparing Roxas one last glance and receiving a flash of irritated but lusty blue eyes before finally, _finally_, putting an end to the teasing.

Roxas's hands were back with a vengeance to grip at the red stands of hair as a warm mouth wrapped around his cock. His entire body seemed to heat up as he squeezed his eyes shut, panting. Gods, it felt _so_ good. Even the few girlfriends he had had in the past year or so couldn't compare to this. Heels digging into Axel's back, Roxas urged him to go on, just keep at it, as long as he didn't stop. His breath was shaky and erratic as he gasped for air, feeling the sucks at his cock become faster and harder. "Oh G-God..."

Axel paused at the head briefly, sucking lightly and eliciting a particularly sharp moan from Roxas before continuing and pulling in the entire cock into his mouth, lathering it with his tongue. Perhaps Roxas hadn't exactly asked nicely for it, but Axel hadn't been planning on denying him the blow-job in the first place.

The blonde was already arching into the touch and Axel winced as his hair was pulled extra hard. For that, he scraped his teeth down the top of the stiff length as retaliation, breathing carefully through his nose as he bobbed his head up and down.

Roxas came surprisingly fast. Eyes snapping open, he stiffened as his cock emptied itself right into Axel's mouth, then he proceeded to slack back into the cushions, breathing heavily, a little light-headed. Axel swallowed everything down before scooting his body up to rest along-side the contented blonde. His stamina wasn't up to par with Axel's, but the red-head would be sure to train Roxas up eventually.

"That was... that was..." Roxas was mumbling, staring up at the ceiling mistily as the other snuggled up against him.

"Yeah, I know." smirked Axel, licking his lips casually. "I'm usually not so giving; I'll get you to return the favor soon enough."

"Y'mean..." Roxas felt a poking at his leg. Axel was still hard. He blinked, turning his head to give the red-head a guilty look, but merely earned a soft kiss for his trouble. Axel looked unconcerned.

"Don't worry about it, it'll go away. I just wanna get back to sleep for now."

"... but the coffee..."

Silly that Roxas remembered about breakfast now, of all times. Axel snorted to himself and pulled the shorter boy into himself, curling his arms around him and burrowing his noise into the sweet-smelling hair. "Sleep now, breakfast later."

Sleep sounded like an excellent idea, actually. Who needed coffee or breakfast or even life at the moment when he could just sleep in that delicious heat? Without protest, Roxas sank into the comfortable warmth with a content hum as a blanket was thrown over him. "Mm'kay."

The pair fell into a sound slumber on the couch, morning dragging away lazily until noon.

-------------------------------

Axel stood casually by the truck that Demyx had rumbled up the driveway in. Ninja was already stowed away safely in the back and the mohawked-blonde was leaning out of the window, waiting patiently for the red-head to join him. He had received the anxious call from Axel a little after twelve, begging him to come get him and his poor motorbike. Now it was taking forever to get the idiot to actually go.

"So. You still alright with everything? Me coming with you to that anime convention?" Axel ruffled the back of his hair idly, fully dressed now, watching the shorter blonde across from him cross his arms impatiently over his chest and slouch slightly in hopes of hiding the love bites scattered across his neck.

"Of course I'm alright with it." Roxas sighed, resisting the urge to rub at his sore neck. "I want you to come."

"And it's in a week?" The red-head pressed, eyeing the fidgety Roxas.

"In a week. Just come back Friday morning. If anything, I'll call you. "

"It's too bad you don't want to come hang out tonight with us. But, y'know, I'll call you later in the week to make sure and-"

"Axel." Demyx suddenly interrupted the awkward conversation, grinning slightly to himself. If he didn't put a stop to this, Axel would never leave. "Would you just come on already?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, just a sec." replied Axel distractedly, only glancing back at Demyx as an after-thought as he strode back over to Roxas. Demyx sighed and leaned against the steering wheel, waiting.

Axel closed the distance between him and the blonde, mouth set in a determined line, and, without warning, tugged the shorter teen into a small kiss. HE certaintly wasn't going leave without a proper goodbye. Roxas didn't struggle, to Axel's satisfaction. As soon as the two separated, Axel swiping a tongue over his lips to savor the taste he had just been reveling in, Roxas sighed. Lowering his eyes, the blonde voiced one of the main thoughts swirling in his muddled head.

"So what does this make us? Friends?"

There was a pause, filled only with the rumble of Demyx's truck and far-off cries of birds, before Axel replied, words carrying an undertone of a chuckle. "... friends with very good benefits?

"I suppose that'll do for now." The blonde snorted. Typical, typical Axel.

Roxas stayed out on the sidewalk of his house for another ten minutes, staring off dazedly down the road where the dark blue truck had disappeared, carrying away Axel. He didn't really know what exactly he had gotten himself into, allowing Axel to take up a spot in his life this way after such a ridiculous beginning. So far, though, Roxas decided as he wandered back into his house, it was shaping up to be a good decision.

------------------------------

Never before had a week gone so slowly for either of the boys. And never before had they suffered from such unlucky days than from Saturday to Thursday night. The entire time, they communicated simply through voice mails, never able to actually reach each other.

"_Yo Roxas, I'm on my break right now from work, but it seems like you're busy again. I'm just curious, you never _did_ tell me about your damn Otakon. The fuck is it, anyway, aside from an anime convention?"_

"_Hey Axel. It's Roxas. I got your voicemail. You'd think that with so much free time in the summer, you'd have a moment to go online and do some research. Find out for yourself what Otakon is, I'm not telling you. Sucker."_

"_... alright, Roxas, so aside from inviting me to Baltimore, which is hell-knows how many miles from our town, are there seriously over 22,000 people going? I don't mind people, but that's a _shit_-load of people. And most of them dress up like freaks from those cartoons? Seriously?"_

"_Axel, it's Roxas. Finally got time to go online, huh? Yeah, Otakon is pretty big, but don't worry, I'll protect you, you big baby. And yes, a lot of people dress up. It's called cosplaying. You'll get used to it."_

"_... Roxas, I found out what yaoi is. Demyx finally told me. And damn, do I like it."_

"_It's Roxas again. First of all, would you stop calling me during my night shifts? You always call right when I go to do actual work and I can't pick up. Seriously, what the fuck is up with your timing? Secondly... actually, I don't even wanna talk about it. Yaoi is for girls, you idiot. Fangirls, even. The squealing, screaming kind. Stop being a moron."_

"_Roxas, I bet you like yaoi deep down inside. Don't deny it."_

"_Axel. You're an idiot. Don't forget to come early tomorrow."_

Needless to say, the week passed by in a constant cycle of missed calls, but eventually, Friday rolled right in to find Axel standing back in front of the Mitsu residence, tying back his hair into a loose ponytail as he shifted the bag hanging from his shoulder, a cigarette dangling from his lips. He even checked his reflection in the mirror briefly, smirking. His spikes were as red as ever, matching with the skinny black jeans and sleeveless crimson shirt. He tapped the toe of his chucks briefly on the cement of the patio right in front of the front door, sparing his newly repaired Ninja that stood in the driveway (thanks to Cid's handiwork) a glance before finally bringing his knuckles forward to rap them sharply against the door.

It opened quickly, but not by the blonde that Axel had been expecting. Instead, a tall teen with hair that looked bleached looked out at him, gripping the edge of the door. The red-head eyed the boy, noticing the steely azure irises and muscled arms right off the bat. The two summed each other up in the stony silence. Finally, the stranger spoke.

"You must be Axel, then. Roxas has been bitching like an old lady all morning about how you'd probably be late."

The low, cocky tone had Axel smirking. He was unimpressed; the teen was just a punk., whoever he was. "Oh really, now? Well, I'd better go remedy that and tell him I'm here."

"Go right on in." the blonde drawled, stepping back inside but leaving the door open for Axel to enter, which the red-head did so after exhaling a rather thick stream of cigarette smoke. He padded into the living room, looking about. There were bags and suitcases already piled up by the couch and there was an air of hustle and bustle. The first one to come greet Axel properly was Mickey. Picking up the cat, whose tail was flicking about like whip, the motorcyclist turning in place, musing about where Roxas could be but unwilling to go and ask Mr. Cocky with the blue eyes. Instead, he idly scratched Mickey behind the ears and wandered into the kitchen.

He hadn't explored the place before. Curious, he looked about the roomy area, noting the wide window that was flooding the counter below it in light, then finally realized he wasn't alone. The other blonde and another were shoving food into a cooler.

"Oh hey! Axel, right?" The other boy who looked to be about Roxas's age looked up, eyebrows rising in intrigue as he stood with two bottles of water in hand.

"That's me." smirked Axel, Mickey still purring contentedly in his arms.

The teen nodded in greeting, waving one of the bottles. "I'm Hayner, Roxas's cousin."

"Pleasure. Axel Hotaru." Axel tipped his head in acknowledgement while trying not to snicker at the strange hairstyle Roxas's cousin was sporting. How the boy had gotten the mildly wavy dirty-blonde hair to stick straight up and back in a gravity-defying fashion was a little beyond him. Instead, he shifted Mickey in his hands and adjusted his bag again with his free hand.

Hayner jabbed his thumb over his shoulder at the other occupant of the kitchen. "And that guy over there is Seifer." Axel glanced at the tall teen who had answered the door, nodding at him curtly before looking back to Hayner.

"I take it you're all going to this Otakon thing?"

"That's right." Hayner turned back to toss the water bottles into the cooler, wiping off his hands on his pants as Seifer continued to riffle through cupboards. "We'll be leaving in a few minutes, but I don't know where..." His eyes shifted their attention to a point over Axel's shoulders. "Oh, never mind. Hey Roxas."

"Hey."

Axel turned around just in time to see Roxas nod in Hayner's direction, then shift his eyes to glower at the red-head instead, brow wrinkling. "You're late." He said in accusatory tone.

"I'm here, though, aren't I?"

"Whatever. C'mon." Roxas hid the relief that the red-head had showed up, rolling his eyes instead.

At least the blonde seemed to be in an alright mood. Axel walked forward, Hayner and Seifer forgotten as Roxas, motioning for him to follow him out of the room, turned in place and stormed out. It was through the short hallway and they were back in the living room. As soon as they were out of earshot of the pair in the kitchen, the shorter blonde turned back to Axel, propping his hands on his hips, spikey hair slipping to one side as he cocked his head.

"Listen, I'm just going to warn you now. Don't try to pull anything while we're down at Otakon. We're not going alone."

"Yes, so I've realized." muttered Axel, scratching nonchalantly at one of his tattoos. It put a little damper to his plans, having two other people with them, but he would work around it, regardless of Roxas's warning. The blonde didn't know any better, really. He was still in denial about the whole thing, but Axel could tell that he wanted to get laid. Totally.

"It's about a two hour trip there, so..." Roxas launched into an explanation; meanwhile, Axel managed to completely block it out. His gaze took in the cute way Roxas's lips curved upward when he was talking about something pleasant, which happened to be the anime convention at this point. Axel felt a sudden urge. Surely, they had time for a few minutes of making out. Otakon could wait.

"Did you miss me?"

"... and then we'll... wait, what?" Roxas paused in his spiel, eyes blank in confusion. He had an odd feeling that Axel hadn't been paying the least attention to what he had been saying.

"Did you miss me?" Axel repeated, taking a step forward.

Roxas's stared. "Um, you didn't give me a chance to, seeing as you called me so many times."

Once again, the blonde was playing hard to get.

"So you didn't miss me kissing you gently, taking in your bottom lip and biting on it while my hands moved to run down the inside of your legs..." Roxas paled. "... or the way that I could make you whimper when I started sucking on y-"

By this point, most of the blood had returned right back to Roxas's face in the form of a vivid blush. He stormed forward, clapping his hands over Axel's mouth before he could continue. Trying to shake off the embarrassment and the undertones of arousal at the red-head's words, Roxas took in a few deep breaths, hoping to calm himself down.

"Stop talking like that." He growled, then abruptly flinched, feeling something warm and wet slide over his palm. Axel beamed at him from behind the hand blocking his mouth and Roxas hurriedly pulled back. The idiot had _licked_ him.

"You really need to stop denying it, Roxas. You like me."

"You're tolerable." corrected Roxas, wiping his hand angrily over his shirt.

"Roxas." The blonde looked up to see Axel no longer grinning. "Can you seriously admit that you regret what we did last week? Or that you didn't like what I did back in the Seven-Eleven, or the pool?"

A flush came onto Roxas's face. He looked away from the bright green eyes. "No, I can't..."

"Then why are you still like this?" Axel moved closer, allowing Mickey to slip from his arms and pad away. It seemed that the cat knew what was coming. "Stop acting like I'm such a nuisance to you if I'm really not. You want this, don't you?"

"I don't know." admitted Roxas grudgingly, allowing Axel to slide his arms around his waist. "I just don't know. It's not everyday that stuff like this happens, and I'm always just getting caught up in the moment. If you hadn't done that stupid bet, I wouldn't know you at all, and yet we met again and everything went downhill from there."

"Unexpected things happen. You should just take things in your stride. I'm here now, and I'm not going away, so stop beating me back. Let me in, you idiot." Axel leaned in, smiling amusedly again before he flicked his eyes upward to meet Roxas's. He was startled to see so much indecision in the blue orbs. He hadn't realized that the boy was so troubled with the whole affair. Axel wasn't perturbed by it at all. He had met a cute kid and now they were friends with benefits, as he had said. Nothing peculiar about that. But for Roxas, it seemed to be different. It was a good thing he was clearing this up before Otakon.

"Maybe you just need some more encouragement..." Axel breathed gently over the tempting pink lips, watching them twitch in anticipation, before licking at them, giving a chance for Roxas to take in a breath as he leaned in to shorten the space between them and kiss him.

He could feel Roxas relax in his arms and smiled to himself, feeling the other's tongue stir into life. Axel delighted in the kisses, they were so sweet and soft. He could live with this. Roxas would need a little more encouragement, perhaps, but he could live with this. Things were cool between them, the blonde really did want this. It looked to be smooth sailing ahead.

"Dare I ask what you two are doing?"

Or maybe not. Roxas and Axel separated quickly separated with a soft sucking noise.

"Uncle!" squeaked Roxas, blushing like mad again. Confused, Axel looked towards the stairs where the unwelcome interrupting voice had come from. It was always interruptions for him.

A man with short black and gray hair was frowning at them, eyes hidden behind a pair of shades. By the way his head was turned, Axel could see that he was looking at Roxas. He licked away at the remaining dampness in his lips as the unknown man walked down the last steps.

"Roxas, who is this?" Despite the neutral tone in his voice, the man was obviously a little perturbed.

Roxas was trying to hide a blush and act as if he had _not_ just been sucking face with the red-head. He motioned towards the college student. "Um, Uncle, this is Axel Hotaru, he's a, uh... friend of mine."

The man smiled shrewdly, but the gesture didn't carry any humor. "So I've noticed."

"Axel, this is my Uncle Auron. He's Hayner's dad." Roxas muttered, now wishing he could sink into the floor and disappear.

"Pleased to meet you, sir." Axel grinned marginally, eyeing Auron with uncertainty and wondering how the man was so tall or muscled. If he wanted to, Roxas's uncle could probably beat the shit out of him.

"Yes indeed..." Auron turned his head in Axel's direction, looking him over in a way that made the red-head shuffle slightly, intimidated. Apparently unable to find anything objectionable, the older man finally looked away and walked past them. "Roxas, I'll be leaving now. Be careful driving, I'll see you Monday."

"Bye Uncle..." Roxas waved weakly, keeping his eyes firmly on his feet and looking completely shamed.

Standing in the doorway, Auron yelled a "Hayner, behave yourself!" to which he received a "Yes, Dad! Bye Dad!" from the kitchen. Satisfied, the older man gave Axel one last frown before storming out and closing the door behind him.

"Um. Wow." Axel murmured, eyes wide.

"Yeah." Roxas agreed, releasing a slow breath.

The pair recovered quickly after Seifer and Hayner came out of the kitchen, laden with food. A good ten minutes was spent packing Seifer's car, another two of Hayner and Seifer squabbling on who would drive, five on Roxas yelling that he had forgotten to take Mickey over to the neighbors, until, finally, they were ready to go.

Axel and Roxas had been shoved into the two back seats with the reason that Hayner needed to make sure Seifer didn't crash the car and that Roxas couldn't read a map to save his life, anyway.

Fifteen minutes into the trip and Hayner and Seifer were already arguing about which radio station to listen to.

"They're dating, y'know." Roxas grinned slightly, turning his head to look at Axel, who was listening bemusedly to the argument in the front of the car.

"Really? I couldn't tell."

Roxas rolled his eyes as Seifer nearly swerved the car off the road in an attempt to smack Hayner. "Yeah, it's not blatantly obvious or anything."

The couple eventually settled on a mix CD and peace was restored to the car. Axel frowned to himself, noting the partially awkward silence between himself and Roxas. The blonde was currently staring out the window, intently watching the fields that were flashing past.

"So you were saying that we don't know enough about each other..." Axel suddenly said. Roxas flicked his gaze over at him.

"Yeah, I did." Roxas shrugged, folding his arms over his chest as he propped his feet up on the back of the driver seat.

"Well..." Axel crossed his legs. "Now's a good time as any. What do you want to know?"

Roxas had been waiting for an opportunity like this. The past week had given him a chance to think up a good amount of questions for the red-head. He grinned. "Well..."

---------------------------

By the time that the group had finally pulled into Baltimore, Maryland, Seifer and Hayner had joined in on their conversation as well. Axel had underestimated the three and was a little worn out from all of the pressing questions. He hadn't realized that they even wanted to know what his first words were as a baby, or who he had lost his virginity to and if they knew her.

Really, "banana" and "Tifa Lockhart" weren't that fascinating of answers in the first place.

The six-hour journey had practically flown past, especially when Roxas had relaxed and the pair found themselves having an amicable conversation. Nevertheless, the Q and A session was cut short with their arrival.

"Looks like we're here..." Seifer said from the driver's seat, steering his way around a hoard of scrambling otakus as they scurried across the street at an intersection.

Hayner threw himself into the window, pressing his nose to the glass as he started pointing out what different people were cosplaying. Roxas, meanwhile, grinned excitedly to himself as he turned to Axel.

"Ready for your first anime con?"

Axel had never seen Roxas smile so happily before and he couldn't help but wonder what was in store for him. "Duh. I'm up for anything."

The blonde turned in his seat, reaching beneath it to tug out a brown bag. "Then you'll probably want to see your costume now."

"I hope it's sexy." replied the red-head, eyeing the sack suspiciously.

"In a way."

Axel didn't like the way Roxas was smiling now. Not at all. Taking the proffered bag, he peered into it and frowned. The blonde was snickering while Axel's mouth just continued to curve downward. He blinked. Was that what he thought it was...?

"The hell is this?"

**To be continued...

* * *

**

Woo, longest chapter so far. I know you all hate me and my cliffhangers xD

Feel free to guess what Axel's cosplay is, though. Maybe one of you will get it right. And... you'll get a cookie? Maybe? xD

Note (10/20): I edited it up a little. Hopefully, the majority of the ridiculous mistakes are gone.

Also hopefully, I should update SD again in the next two or three weeks. And! Blue Funk wandered out to Zenkaikon not too long ago and got some pictures of two awesome AkuRoku cosplayers. Check it out in my profile if you so wish.

REVIEWS :D ?


	5. Day One: Breaking the Ice

So I'm a horrible person. I realize. xD No update for a while, even though I said I would. I apologize. Tandokucon and school and swimming and cosplay planning caught up to me. In any case... I got a lot of different guesses on what Axel's cosplay was. xD A lot of you were right. Some of you made me pity Axel. And another bunch of you made me grin. I love you all. And I will catch up to review responses, I swear!

To continue this long AN, I also got a livejournal, so for anyone especially curious about how I get along in life and how long it might take me to write fics, feel free to stop by and friend meh.

In any case, thank you all once again for all your reviews! You guys are too awesome. If any of you feel up to it, feel free to check out another story of mine I've started up called "SINthetic"... it's pretty spiffy.

I apologize now for the lame song lyrics, but I couldn't resist, it was playing while I was writing. xD Don't forget to review! (If we get up to 300... which is an awesome movie... I might just pull a Caketown.)

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**Chapter Five**

"_Breaking the Ice"

* * *

_

The group stalked through the hotel. The corridor itself was brightly lit, the carpeted floor flowery, the walls fancily decorated, as was expected of a hotel. Luckily, it was about afternoon and it was mostly empty. So yes. The four boys continued their storming. Well, Axel did, at any rate. Hayner, Seifer, and Roxas were walking, being mindful of their large bags that they toted behind them as they did so.

Then again, _they_ weren't the ones stuck with the ridiculous cosplay. _They _weren't the ones being forced to wear... well... at any rate... The red-head frowned to himself as they made through way through the hall, watching Roxas idly look at each of the doors, counting down to their own room.

Otakon would have to wait for the next half-hour, because the boys still needed to drop off their stuff and change, Axel especially. The entire trip up in the elevator, the red-head had complained vehemently about the whole charade. Yes, he was easy-going and yes, he could take most things in his stride... but not _this_. He wrinkled his nose down at the bag in his hand. Definitely not this.

It had taken a hard nudge in the ribs from Roxas to get him to shut up, in the end.

Eventually, the endless hall of doors came to a halt, as did the four, and Axel's aggravated thoughts. Roxas hefted his rucksack over one shoulder and slid the key in.

The little light, signaling whether or not the electronic card key actually worked, flashed red.

Hayner huffed in annoyance. His arms were aching from carrying his stuffed bookbag. "Roxas, c'mon already..."

Roxas stuck his tongue out at his cousin before attempting to unlock the door again.

Another annoying little red light. No dice.

The blonde blew out a breath of exasperation and Axel, despite his previous foul attitude towards idiot, felt a twinge of pity. At this rate, they'd never get in the room. Tossing the paper bag containing his doom to the floor, he stepped forward.

"Here, let me try..." He murmured softly, standing beside Roxas so that their hips bumped together gently.

Roxas protested, keeping the key out of Axel's reach as a flush of embarrassment flared up on his cheeks. "Look, I got it, ok? I don't need your help."

Axel managed to close his fingers around the blonde's wrist. He needed to get the younger teen to stop being so obdurate. Hayner and Seifer stood behind them, looking amused, but the squabbling pair in front of the door was too intent on the key to notice.

"You obviously do, you can't get the door open." stated Axel bluntly, quirking one red, thin eyebrow.

Indignant objection flared up in the bright blue eyes. Roxas attempted to tug his arm back, but ended up only getting pulled closer to the red-head in the small doorway. He flushed, wishing that Axel wasn't so _close_ and warm. The foot of distance between the two of them during the eternity-long car trip had been perfectly fine; no overly obvious sexual tension, no noticeable attempts from the red-head to get closer or touch him. No problems for Roxas, unlike this. This was a problem. Especially with the red tinge spreading over his cheeks.

Damnit, why couldn't the door just open?

"Just give me my space, Axel! I'll get it open!"

"Or you can just give me the key and we'll all be happy." Axel quipped back, unable to keep the small grin off his lips at the flustered expression Roxas had. He _would_ get easily exasperated at something like this. "Stop being stubborn."

"Let go." Roxas hissed, stopping all of his flailing motions. His voice dropped a few decibels in hopes of sounding more threatening. He glared up at the red-head, fingers closed tightly over the key-card. Maybe he was being pig-headed, but the blonde didn't want to give in to Axel.

Axel's eyes widened slightly at Roxas's threatening tone and he pulled the blonde in closer, leaning down so that their faces were inches apart. "No."

There was an unmistakable wince from Roxas at that point. The warm breath that flittered over his face from Axel's words sent shivers down his spine. His free hand moved to push at the older teen's chest as he tried to pull away again. "I don't need your help!"

Axel put up a fight, continued to keep Roxas close. "Damnit, Roxas, if you're door-opening disabled, just let me do it. It's not a big deal!"

"Listen, love-birds..." Seifer's casual drawl broke through their rising argument.

The pair in the doorway froze. They had forgotten about the other two. Simultaneously, Axel and Roxas slowly turned their heads. Hayner looked like he was trying not to burst out laughing, while his boyfriend, the smirking bleach-blonde, had his arms crossed over his chest, a knowing look in his eye. Axel didn't like that look.

"As much fun as it is to watch you two squabble like an old couple, I kinda want to get to the convention, so just open the damn door."

Roxas's mouth flapped open to protest the insulting assessment (_Old couple? _Honestly...) but Axel was quick and took advantage of the dissipating tension to snatch the key out of the blonde's hands and flick it through the lock-system.

Green light.

Tossing the card back to the flabbergasted Roxas, Axel smirked and went to grab his bag. "See? No big deal..."

Hayner and Seifer made their way calmly into the room, Axel following, while Roxas went in last, at a loss for a perfect nasty come-back. Instead, he simply scowled to himself as he closed the door behind himself. He'd get his chance, later.

Especially with Axel's upcoming cosplay.

Cheered somewhat, Roxas turned his attention back to the newly discovered hotel room. Sefier had already thrown down his bag, rooted through it for his costume, and locked himself in the bathroom to change, leaving Hayner to wander through the room and check for goodies ("Oh, hey, complimentary mints!").

Axel stood between the two king beds, looking a little confused as he set down his own traveling bag.

"Roxas, there are only two beds?"

The blonde raised an eyebrow as he seated himself at the desk on one side of the room. "Obviously."

The red-head continued to speak slowly, as if to make sure he wasn't making a mistake, and by the way he continued to look from the beds to Roxas, he seemed to think he was. Roxas's brow furrowed slightly at the dawning hope in those slender green eyes.

"So... we're sharing beds?"

Oh. That. Yeah. Roxas had forgotten to mention that. He leaned back in his chair, blowing out a stray spike from his eyes as he observed the fascinating cracks in the ceiling. "Yeah. You're sharing with Seifer, and I'll be sharing with Hayner."

Granted, he had just thought of that on the spot, but that was hardly the point.

Before the red-head could even protest, which is exactly what Roxas had been expecting, Hayner straightened from where he had been curiously poking his head in a cupboard, indignant. "Hell no, Roxas. I'm sleeping with Seifer, so I'm pretty sure I get first dibs on sharing my bed with him."

Roxas sent him a sharp look. "_Hayner_..."

The dirty-blonde cousin didn't miss the meaningful and menacing glance, but he merely smirked and shrugged it off. "No way, Roxas. You and Axel, or one of you can sleep on the floor, doesn't matter to me."

"Sounds good to me." Axel's lips tipped upward, but he tried his best not to start pumping his fist in triumph. Roxas, defeated, groaned under his breath, rolling his eyes one more time before standing up.

"Fine. Whatever."

Axel was grinning. "Dissension among the ranks, huh?" He moved to drape his arm around Roxas's shoulders, "Don't worry, Rox. I'm a good bedmate. I don't bite."

"Much." snorted Roxas with a roll of his eyes, shrugging off the arm as he moved to dump his own bag on the bed that he and Axel were to share. Like a _damn old couple_. Biting back his annoyance, Roxas comforted himself once again with the image of Axel in the cosplay outfit they had picked out for him.

Seifer finally emerged from the bathroom, shaking a hairspray can. The teen was already in costume, sporting a loose white shirt, green haramaki, and black trousers tucked into threatening-looking combat boots. He motioned to his boyfriend with the green hairspray. The motion caused the three long earrings hanging from one of his lobes to swing together. "Hayn, could you help me out with this?"

"Think I can leave you two alone for a little bit without you two biting each other's heads off?" Hayner glanced over at the pair. Axel waved him off.

"Go on, hurry up so we can get this over with."

And just like that, Roxas and Axel were alone in the room. Hoping to keep the atmosphere calm, Roxas moved to pull his own outfit from his bag.

"We might as well start getting changed..." He pointed at the paper bag holding Axel's doom. The red-head didn't appear to appreciate the reminder. He didn't bother sparing the costume a glance, instead sitting down on the bed to watch the blonde's butt wiggle as he burrowed through his rucksack.

"Do I have to wear that? Seriously?" Roxas grew only more amused at the hint of a whine in Axel's voice.

"Um, yes." replied the blonde in a no-nonsense tone, sounding smug.

But Axel was in an argumentative sort of mood. He wasn't going to go down without a fight. "I don't deserve it."

This nudged a nerve in Roxas, who looked up from his bag quickly, bristling. "Like hell you don't!"

The red-head smiled innocently, raising his hands protectively from Roxas's wrath. He had even raised his voice. _Feisty_. "C'mon, what'd I do that was so bad?"

"Oh, let's see..." Roxas began mockingly counting off on his fingers. "If we don't count how you practically molested me for no apparent reason in the Seven-Eleven, or how you got Slurpee in my hair - which took forever to get out, I'll have you know-, or if we completely disregard the fact that you nearly cost my job, _twice_... then we can take into consideration how afterwards, you wouldn't actually leave me alone and had to spend the night at my _house..._"

Axel raked a few fingers through his hair, chuckling. He had expected that reaction, but it never got old to pet the blonde in the wrong direction and see him get pissy. "I thought we went over this already. Are you still angry about that?"

In a huff, the other turned back to his bag. "No, not as much as I was, but I still don't forgive you completely."

"Then what will get you to wipe the slate clean?"

There was a dark chuckle from the depths of Roxas's throat. He simply pointed at the paper bag. "That, obviously."

Axel frowned. Somehow, his attempts to get out of wearing the dreaded ... _thing_... weren't working. He looked up from staring at the dreaded paper sack to discover that Roxas had moved to stand directly in front of him. He held a bundle of his own costume in his hands.

"In case you haven't figured it out, Axel..." whispered Roxas with a small grin. "This is pay-back."

Axel tried to snatch in a kiss, but fell just short when Roxas darted back. The blonde's grin grew into a clever smile as he stood right out of the red-head's reach. Axel returned the gesture, but immediately lost all expression whatsoever at Roxas's next words.

"So until you put that on and start wearing it, as it stands, you're sleeping on the floor tonight."

Axel grimaced. He hadn't expected for Roxas to be _this_ clever. Wasn't he supposed to be the crafty one? He, Axel Hotaru, the cocky, bothersome, hip like badass BAMF. He'd have to watch Roxas, he was sneakier than he came off to be. The blonde had a lot of tricks up his sleeve.

Then again, it would've been hard for Roxas to come off as sneaky back at the 7-11, where he had been covered in slush and panting as Axel 'molested him.'

"I'm not wearing this." Axel said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Roxas was tugging off his shirt to change. He didn't look over at the red-head sitting on the bed. "Yes you are."

"No, I'm not." repeated Axel, concentration watering down slowly at the sight of the younger teen's bare chest. _Don't look at the nipples, don't look at the nipples, don't look at the nipples..._

"Yes you are."

The blonde was growing on him. Damnit, he was more than growing on him. Damn him and his still raging hormones to hell. Axel's eyes fixated on the dusky, perky--_DAMNIT_, _don't look at them!_

"No, I'm not."

Roxas turned towards the red-head, unamused and unwittingly showing Axel the exact sight he didn't exactly want to distract him. "Axel..."

"No." Axel shook his head to rid his mind of the dirty thoughts that would undoubtedly have him pouncing the blonde and earning him a night on the floor. He tapped his foot nervously, swallowing. "You're not gonna make me wear this."

Roxas was smirking again.

-----------------------------------

"I can't believe you made me wear this."

"Look, just deal with it for one day, alright?" Roxas grinned, sliding on a pair of snazzy white sunglasses.

"Besides..." Seifer added, looping an arm around Hayner's waist as they walked. "It's already past noon, it could be worse. You could've been wearing it all day instead."

Hayner was smiling widely. "Besides, you look very nice in that outfit. It suits you."

"Yeah, why don't you just shut up, ok?" The red-head scowled, nervously picking at the shirt he was wearing. Life couldn't get any worse. This was the worst idea ever. He should have picked sleeping on the floor. He should have never agreed to come to Otakon. He should have just stayed home. He should never have walked into that Seven-Eleven. He should never have agreed to Marluxia's stupid bet.

GODS, HE SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN BORN!

"I hate my life." Axel said simply, wincing slightly as they walked.

As if the outfit wasn't enough, he had actually been forced to wear it while they walked down the two blocks towards the convention center. The easy-going Axel had tried his best to work it out, but one couldn't exactly work out bright red boots that went up to his knees.

And now, they had actually entered the convention itself. The badge that showed he had registered hung from his neck, laden with some ridiculous anime character, and Hayner had stuffed everyone's Welcome Packet into his bookbag. The four began their slow trek through the massive halls of the Baltimore Convention Center. Roxas, Hayner, and Seifer were all veterans of the con, but Axel was still a little overwhelmed with the _size_ of it all.

Not only was the building itself split into two separate parts, there were even multiple floors. The place was enormous.

And then there were... the people.

Beforehand, Axel had been proud to say that he had seen a great deal of bizarre things unfit for an average person's eyes and that he wasn't easily phased. He changed his mind as soon as he witnessed an entire procession of people dressed as Pokemon dance by.

They were everywhere: Cosplayers. Different colors of hair, varied degrees of undress, diverse outfits and weapons... there were hoards of these otaku everywhere. Taking pictures, sitting around, walking about, jumping on each other, buying merchandise... it was a cornucopia of people, celebrating the Japanese culture and its animation.

At first, Axel didn't feel especially savvy in his outfit, even with the other multiple guys he had seen in similar situations.

"You seriously need to relax." Roxas said after the fifth time that Axel tried to 'go to the bathroom'.

"It's kinda hard right now, Roxas." Axel muttered back, anxiously eyeing a large group of teenage girls with cameras. "Why couldn't I have just gotten something like what Hayner and Seifer are wearing?"

"Because that would be too good for you." replied Roxas with a snicker, watching as his cousin and his boyfriend had their picture taken.

The two had gone as characters from One Piece, who apparently were pirates. Axel didn't think that Hayner in a suit with his hair straightened looked especially piratey. And what was up with that curly eyebrow? Then there was Seifer's strange outfit with not one, but _three_ swords. Along with the spray-painted green hair, Seifer looked like he belonged in a circus, not a pirate ship. Nevertheless, it didn't stop the two from continuously being stopped to have their picture taken.

Luckily, no one had gone up to Axel yet. He was glad for it. Things like this could end up on the internet. And he never wanted to see himself in this costume ever again. _Honestly_. Whoever invented the combination of knee-high boots with elbow-high white gloves to match a _very _short blue skirt and a sailor shirt must have been drunk or high or both. Then there were the stupid bows over his chest _and_ his butt. Roxas had said that at least he had the hips for the costume.

Not to mention the ridiculously long blonde hair wig, fashioned into troublesome pony-tails. Who was he dressed as again? Roxas had said something along the lines of--

"OH MY GOD, SAILOR MOON!"

The four stopped dead and Axel blinked. There was a giggly girl running towards him, her light brown ponytails bouncing along with her step. And... there was a camera in her hands. As she approached, she noticed Roxas as well, who stood beside Axel, holding his black top hat in one hand.

"And Tuxedo Mask?" She grinned excitedly, bouncing up and down. "You guys look amazing! Can I get a picture?"

Roxas grinned, pulling on his hat. Axel merely stared, wary of the device the girl was holding. The blonde had obliged the girl, striking a gallant pose, a rose in his hand, whilst Hayner and Seifer moved away, more to laugh than anything else. The girl smiled and lifted the camera. Still, Axel didn't move. What the hell was he supposed to do?

"Axel!" Roxas's sharp voice broke through his thoughts. "Don't just stand there."

Axel had another blank moment, when an unbidden image of the character sprang to his mind. Roxas had shown him a picture of Sailor Moon right before they had left, explaining what would be expected of him.

Wasting no time for the overeager girl, Axel moved his legs apart slightly, propping on hand on his hip and lifting the other so that his hand hung just in front of his forehead (equipped with some silly tiara, no less), his fingers in some tricky position.

The girl was ecstatic. After letting off a high-pitched squeal, she took a few pictures, then thanked the two boys profusely and scurried off.

Roxas looked up to the male Sailor Moon. "So? You alright?" He snickered softly.

"That was... bizarre." Axel stared off after the girl, eyebrows rising.

The fact that he was a male, dressed a female character, did not seem to perturb many. Cross-dressing freaks.

Axel learned a lot that day. Who knew anime conventions would be such educating experiences. Some lessons included the definition of the term 'fan service': Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask were apparently a couple. This lead to interesting scenes:

"Oh, you want us to kiss?" Axel had smiled, pulling in the shorter Roxas, fingers tightening around the blonde's cape so that he couldn't get away. The three girls and, oddly enough, one guy, nodded eagerly.

Roxas had no choice but to press his fingers to Axel's cheek and placate the fangirls (and fanboy) by kissing the "blonde" on the lips.

An entire crowd had surged forward after that, armed with video and digital cameras. People thought the uncanny height-different between Axel and Roxas was "cute."

Then there were things to buy, people to meet, anime to watch... Axel could barely keep up with running from one end of the convention to the other just so Hayner could see some new episode of a cartoon.

The term "Time flies when you're having fun or being put through torture" could be applied here.

Day One of day-time Otakon activities had come to an end quickly. Axel was surprised as they walked outside, back in the direction of the hotel. It was a cloudy day, but still warm for a summer evening.

"Woah, done already? It's not even 9:00 yet..." Axel fixed his short skirt, now quite comfortable in it.

Hayner yawned, hefting a full bag of loot purchased from the Dealer's Room of the con. "For cosplaying, we're done."

They crossed the street, Axel casually flaunting his outfit with no shame. Seifer scratched at his dyed hair. "Now it's time for the rave."

"Rave?" Axel blinked. No way, a rave? That actually almost sounded _cool_.

Roxas sighed under his breath, moodily avoiding everyone's eyes as he watched the cars drive by them on the busy street. "I dunno, you guys, I'm a little tired. Maybe we should call it a night?"

"Oh no, Roxas. In the name of the moon, I say..." Life returned to Axel's eyes as he picked up the pace, his boots making clicking sounds on the sidewalk. "... we go to the rave.. I like the sound of that."

"Thought you would." Hayner returned, before playfully knocking off Roxas's top hat. "C'mon, Roxas, let's go to the rave!"

The blonde knew he was outnumbered. He threw up his arms in defeat after plucking his hat from the ground. "Alright. Rave it is."

Axel grinned eagerly to himself. This was going to be fun.

-----------------------------------

The red-head finally felt in his element. He strapped on glowsticks to his wrists as he, Roxas, Hayner, and Seifer, decked out in rave-attire and more glowsticks, all walked into the dark area where already, there was a large, swarming mass of dancers. It had taken an hour of squabbling over who could use the shower first to actually get to the rave, but they did eventually make it.

This was where Axel fit in. He was more of the party-goer, not the anime-lover. And by the deep, pulsating beat coming from the DJ and the speakers, and the fact that there was already a dance-off in the center of the crowd, this was shaping up to be one hell of a party. The college student fluffed up the back of his hair, which was, thankfully, red again and not shoved under a wig.

Seifer took Hayner's hand and winked at the other two. "We'll see you afterwards, alright? Try not to get into too much trouble..."

Axel and Roxas watched as the couple disappeared into the even _darker_ room that branched off from the main dance area. The blonde was the first to voice the thought that they both shared. "I think they'll be the ones getting into more trouble than us..."

Axel was ready to have fun and forget about Hayner and Seifer, though. He dragged Roxas into the other dancing crowd. "C'mon, Rox, let's go see how well you dance."

Choosing a less cramped space, but not enough to keep his personal space, Axel turned to the blonde as the current song smoothly transitioned into a darker techno. It was hot and crowded and slightly stifling. Axel nudged the frowning blonde. Roxas looked almost edible in the darkness, lit only with the pale light of his glowsticks. "So... have I earned your forgiveness?"

Roxas was torn. He knew that if he remained stiff, he wouldn't get any enjoyment out of the rave, which was actually one of his favorite events of the con. On the other hand, if he loosened up too much, there was no telling how far he would get carried away. Dances were a weak-spot with him; he ended up having _too_ much fun. A fact that he hadn't exactly made known to Axel yet, but one that Hayner and Seifer were perfectly aware of, which explained why they had been so eager to scamper off. Damn them.

There was also the tiny bit of information that, in fact, Roxas had already forgiven Axel as soon as the red-head had walked down the public streets of Baltimore to the Convention Center earlier that day. However, Roxas had cleverly kept that to himself.

"_You got me going insane...  
__And I can't get enough. So let me get it up."_

The beat of the music was throbbing through his spine and despite himself, Roxas was soon rocking his hips to the music, lids sliding down to half-mast to hide his dark blue eyes. Axel was still waiting for an answer. Raking his hand through his blonde spikes, Roxas shrugged. For now, he'd loosen up a little and see where it went.

"Yeah, I guess you're off the hook."

"_Ooh, looks like we're alone now.  
__You ain't gotta be scared, can't run now.  
__I'm-a hit defrost on you...  
__Let's get it blazin'."_

Axel hummed in delight, lips quirking upwards as he himself started to rock to the beat. The rest of the ravers around them continued to dance. "So no sleeping on the floor tonight?"

"_We can turn the heat up, if you wanna.  
__Turn the lights down low, if you wanna.  
__Just wanna move you, but you're frozen up."_

"Dunno..." Roxas lifted his gaze to meet Axel's and was startled to see the shadowy look about the green eyes. "Will you behave yourself?"

Wait, was he _teasing_ the perverted red-head? Where had that come from?

"Maybe." There was soft laugh from the red-head. His green eyes were practically glowing as he leaned in. "No guarantees, though."

"_Let me break the ice. Allow me to get you right.  
Once you warm up to me...  
Baby, I can make you feel..."_

The music faded out and the nearby dancers became smears of red, blue, or green color as Roxas's own world became a messy, blurry, fuzzy mess of Axel. The red-head had closed the small distance between them, slender fingers sliding around the side of his neck as they kissed. Roxas sighed as his tongue slid across Axel's, eyes slipping shut. His body was involuntary relaxing, recognizing the familiar pleasurable feelings and immediately assuming that the situation was completely safe. Instincts raised the blonde's sensitivity, but slowed his reaction speed.

Ladies and Gentlemen, logical, down-to-earth Roxas has left the building.

Blind, Roxas felt the red-head's hot hands slide down his arms, then wrap around his waist to rest on his hips. Why? Why was his body reacting like this? The same had happened back at home, at the pool, at Seven-Eleven. A sense of acceptance and comfort would come over him and he would take in the red-head's advances dumbly. Axel Hotaru... what was it about him that made Roxas react so?

Roxas turned in place so that his back pressed to Axel's chest. They moved slowly together, no space between them. Axel's breath warmed the back of his neck as his hands encircled his waist, slowly rubbing at his sides. Warm fingers were slipping beneath Roxas's shirt, heating his already hypersensitive skin.

Roxas continued to move his hips to the beat. He lifted his arms to loop them about the taller teen's neck, pulling his head down closer, fingertips fiddling with a few red spikes. The blonde had missed the fiery red hair during the daytime; Axel was definitely not a blonde. In response to Roxas's action, the red-head moved to smooth his lips over the blonde's tempting neck, nipping, licking, slowly sucking at the skin there.

There was a soft moan, but Roxas was unsure from who. His eyes, if they had been open, would have surely been glazed over with lust by now. This felt good. It had felt good last time, too. Maybe... maybe letting Axel have his way wasn't such a bad thing after all.

There were fingertips probing at the inside of his thighs. Roxas welcomed the touches, the caresses. He sighed. There was that warmth bubbling up in his stomach again. Finally, he opened his eyes to turn in place, wanting a little change in position; his lips were getting cold, anyway. His gaze met Axel's. The green eyes were shining in the darkness, taking him in, murky with arousal. The pyro purred gently.

"Hey Roxas..." whispered Axel. Roxas nearly moaned. How could such simple words, spoken in such a low husky tone, make his body heat up like that?

"Y-Yeah, Axel?" He murmured back, feeling Axel's hands slide down to cup his bottom and a leg nudge itself between his own. He bit his lip to keep from grinding into Axel's knee. That would be too desperate, too obvious.

Axel felt a small hint of glee at finally being able to feel Roxas's cute butt beneath his fingers, but was more distracted with the way the blonde was panting. It was arousing, how his ocean-blue eyes turned dark and how his full pink lips were parted for air.

"No, nothing..." He laughed into the blonde's ear, moving his head down so that he could nibble at the cartilage as well.

Roxas couldn't hold back the shiver through his body as the next words were sighed softly into his bite-abused outer shell.

"... I just wanted to hear you groan my name..."

A knee nudged at Roxas's already aroused lower area and the blonde made no effort to hold back the whimper. There were no more hip-motions, they certainly weren't dancing anymore. At that point, the blonde didn't care what Axel did with him.

Moaning softly, he pulled Axel's head back so that their lips could meet again. Axel tilted his head sideways for a better angle and Roxas released another deep breath, sharp teeth nipping out to grab onto the red-head's bottom lip and teasingly nibble on it.

Axel's hands were not idle, however. As the two boys' tongues lapped at each other, a fierce but slow competition of saliva-exchange, Axel's fingers began a gentle descent downwards. First, they rubbed beneath Roxas's shirt, warming the small of his back, before traveling beneath the waistband of his tight jeans. Still, the blonde didn't notice, too distracted as he was with their intense kiss that, understandably, took up a great deal of his attention. The spicy taste of Axel was overwhelming and intoxicating.

Growing more daring, unable to control himself, Axel went all out and slipped beneath the younger teen's boxers to feel trembling skin.

Roxas was moaning again, eyes squeezed shut. Where else could those groaning sounds be coming from, anyway? This was just getting better now, anyway. There was heat spreading along his back, now down his pants... a knee was grinding into his groin, and there was a hot mouth attached to his, a tongue slipping through to explore what felt like the back of his throat, by the way the slippery muscle was moving about.

There was a buzzing sound at the back of his head, granted, but that was probably the forgotten techno music. Where was he, again? He couldn't exactly recall.

Roxas's fingers dug into the sweat-slicked red spikes, finding hold as the comfortable warmth slipped along his bare bottom... then between the two cheeks... and then.

Roxas flinched, a soft, startled yelp escaping his occupied mouth at the surprising intrusion into an area not open for the public. Eyes wide with something akin to a mix of fear and embarrassment, the blonde abruptly tore himself away from the confused red-head, smacking his hands out of his pants at the same time.

The music returned back to Roxas's ears with a _whoosh_. Reality was smacking itself back into his brain as the lust receded from his misty eyes, and Roxas distractedly swiped a hand over his puffy lips, stumbling away from the confused Axel.

With a last mixed expression, the blonde abruptly turned on his heel and staggered out of the rave, pushing past dancers to get outside.

Axel stood by himself a long moment, needing a few seconds to recollect himself. What had went wrong? Roxas had been responding eagerly, kissing back, grinding, even moaning for him! Then... Axel racked his brain, unsure of what exactly he had been doing in his lustful state.

Then... ah. Perhaps he had probed a little too deeply... so to speak. Cursing to himself, Axel hurried to follow after Roxas, unwilling to let the moment just slip by.

It had begun to rain. Big fat drops of water drip-dropped down onto the sidewalk as the red-head made his way out of the convention center to see the retreating back of the blonde. Cursing again, but simultaneously blessing whoever and whatever for his long legs, Axel took off after Roxas.

It wasn't hard to catch up, but it was a challenge to get Roxas to actually stop.

Axel's fingers closed over the other's shoulder. "_Roxas! _Roxas, hold on!"

Roxas's frantic footsteps died as he stood, panting, on the street corner. The streets were practically empty, and the rain was slowly slapping onto their two bodies, drenching them.

Roxas didn't slap off the hand on his shoulder. Instead, he shivered and crossed his arms over his chest. He averted his eyes and scowled to himself in an attempt to hide his increasing flush. He spoke first. "I didn't want it to go that far."

"Yeah, I noticed." Axel said glibly, ignoring the wet drops pattering onto his face. Assuming from the blonde's stony, embarrassed silence that the conversation wasn't going to be shifting anytime soon, the red-head took control. He turned Roxas towards himself and tucked a finger under his chin so that the other teen would look up at him.

"Look..." Axel cleared his throat, unsure how to put it correctly. "I don't want to push you. I thought we were just having a good time and going with the flow..."

Roxas looked at his feet, still stubbornly avoiding eye-contact.

"The flow went into a bad direction." He muttered darkly. A particularly obese raindrop slapped down into his cheek. Axel was quick to wipe it away with a thumb and the gentle gesture comforted the blond slightly.

"I know. I'm sorry." Axel released Roxas's chin with a sigh and moved away, tucking his hands into his pant pockets. "I don't want to push you or anything..."

Roxas shame-facedly scratched at the back of his head, shivering from the cold rain. "Yeah, I ... I know." At Axel's curious quirk of an eyebrow, he continued. "Look, whatever, it's fine. I'm not a big fan of awkward moments."

"And this is a pretty damn awkward moment..." agreed Axel with a slight grin. It started to rain harder. The red-head tipped his head back to stare up at the pouring sky.

"Can we just get back to the hotel?" Roxas motioned in the general direction of the building. "I'm exhausted..."

"And it's fucking raining."

"Yeah, that too."

Axel twitched his shoulders and moved back to Roxas, nudging him with an elbow. "Alright. We sharing the bed?"

Roxas chuckled softly, shaking raindrops from his head as they began making their way back to the hotel.

"Only if you behave." he teased.

"No guarantees." grinned Axel, the expression widening as the arm he looped around Roxas's waist went through without protest.

Regardless, the busy day had left the pair completely worn out. After shucking their wet clothes, the two had simply fallen into bed and passed out.

"Y'know..." Axel had murmured as sleep claimed him. "... today was so fucking melodramatic, it wasn't even funny."

Roxas merely grunted in response.

-----------------------------------

Axel didn't talk in his sleep. In fact, he didn't do much in his sleep but actually sleep. Roxas was grateful, but somewhat disappointed, as well. With Axel being in such close proximity, the weird erotic dreams had come back. And there was no way of relieving them now. Damn, damn, _damn _morning wood.

Roxas had been staring up at the ceiling for the past who-knew-how-long. The events of the rave were still slowly leaking back into his brain, but at least he didn't feel especially hung-over from the whole ordeal. In fact, he felt quite refreshed... if not for the stupid problem in his pants.

Growing bored with his hard-on and the exercise of counting cracks in the ceiling, he rolled over to face Axel, simultaneously glancing over at the slumbering Hayner and Seifer, who had returned much later than he and Axel. Then he noticed the digital clock. It was only about 7:00 in the morning. There was another hour until the alarm would ring.

The blonde bit his lip nervously, looking back to Axel and reaching out to gently run his fingers down the red-head's arm. The older teen didn't budge. Roxas shook his head in frustration at himself. _Damnit, _he could_ do this!_ What was he, 16 again? No. He was 18, and he needed to get rid of morning wood.

The previous night had certainly proved that the red-head was more than willing to help, from what Roxas could tell.

"Axel..." He whispered. The red-head rolled over towards him with a sigh. Roxas took in the peaceful expression on the tattooed face of the slumbering college student and bit his lip again until it grew painful. Guilt and indecision welled up in his throat like a choking ball of emotion.

Real sexual relief would have to wait.

Stumbling out of bed, Roxas grabbed a pillow for comfort and tip-toed to the bathroom, locking it behind him. As he sat down on the toilet, pants down, the enormity of the previous night woke up and smacked him upside the head. The image of the smirking red-head, eyes like green fire, was etched into his mind, the feel of the probing hands on his body still fresh.

What the hell had that been?

Roxas sighed, burrowing his face into his palms and digging his fingers into his sleep-mussed hair.

Day two of Otakon had begun.


	6. Day Two: A Turning Point

So I'm sure we can all agree that SD has been due for an update for forever, yes? xD Life caught up and kicked me in the ass (doesn't that sound familiar?), that's the only excuse I can give. I must thank you _all_ for such wonderful reviews, though, I don't know what I'd do without you. As promised, 'cause we got to 300, I pulled a Caketown. Which doesn't actually mean anything.

Be sure to check out my profile, as I've gotten a bunch of new fan/gift art from the ever awesome Lara and V.

* * *

**Chapter Six**

"_A Turning Point"

* * *

_

Axel was perfectly aware of the fact that he hadn't gotten a proper lay in weeks. Whose fault was that? Roxas's. Of course it was. And it was also his own fault, because he was the one that was actually feeling sorry for the blonde and allowing things to go slow.

That wasn't even the main problem. Axel could deal with that. No, the central, bothersome little aspect here was that Axel's subconscious was also completely aware that Axel had not gotten laid in weeks and that perhaps what he saw in Roxas really was beyond just a desire to get into his pants.

This explained why Axel was presently sitting upright in a large, luxurious bed that sported satin sheets, watching Roxas, who was not too far off, stripping casually for him. There was lust radiating out of his misty blue eyes and apparently, the blonde had started off wearing a suit. He was now down to his boxers, dress shirt, and tie.

Axel's eyes never left the slim fingers that were suggestively sliding up and down the black tie. He sighed to himself, knowing that as tempting as it was to believe, this wasn't real. For one, Axel reasoned, Roxas would never wear an outfit like that, even if it suited him. Two, they had somehow ended up in some VIP hotel room, which was also highly unlikely. They certainly didn't have the money for this.

Then there was always the little detail that Roxas was stripping for him. As sexy as it was, Axel was fairly certain that the blonde had not yet given up his bothersome inclination of trying to avoid being sexual with him. If the previous night at the rave had been any clue. So this was obviously a dream.

And was that romantic music playing in the background?

Axel's gloomy reasoning was put abruptly to a halt with a single, breathy whisper from Roxas. The tie was gone, the shirt unbuttoned. There, past the cloth, was the expanse of warm, tanned skin and Axel's fingers itched to touch it.

"Axel…" Roxas was slowly slinking forward, "Why are you still dressed?"

Axel looked down. He really was still in full attire. A business suit.

_Oh, are we doing the sexy businessman make-out scene, subconscious? Good choice._

Axel tuned back into the fake reality just as Roxas clambered up onto the bed to straddle him. An uncharacteristically sly smirk was resting on his lips. He prowled towards Axel inch by inch, running his open-palmed hands upward over Axel's clothed chest until their lips were separated by only a few centimeters of air. Roxas was pouting. Axel's resolve nearly melted.

_This isn't real, this isn't real, this isn't real…_

"Axel, I want you naked." Roxas purred, breathing slowly as his eyelids dipped down sensually. The temperature in the room zoomed upwards. "Why are you still dressed, Axel?"

… _Fuck it._

"I don't know…" murmured Axel, eyes flicking down to the blonde's lips briefly before meeting his gaze again, "Maybe we should correct this little problem?"

A breathless laugh emerged from Roxas. The warm hands on Axel's chest slid together, meeting at the buttons of his dress shirt. Never breaking eye contact with the red-head, Roxas's fingers quickly started to get rid of the constraints on the shirt, undoing every fastening with a practiced precision Axel never knew he possessed. Not one to sit by idly, Axel impatiently tugged off his tie and dress jacket to help the process along.

Thankfully for efficiency, the two had Axel shirtless in no time whatsoever. Roxas eagerly pounced back onto the red-head, looping his arms around Axel's neck as he swiped his nose across the red-head's affectionately in an Eskimo kiss.

"I want you." He murmured, laying his body across the older teen's. "Right now."

Axel grinned briefly, sliding his hands into Roxas's hair and pulling his head down. He loved the weight of Roxas's warm body on his. Their lips just barely brushed against each other. "You have me, Rox. Right now."

Roxas pushed forward, engaging into a kiss. It was heated and languid, but Roxas wasn't about to take his time. Almost immediately, the blonde's tongue slipped out to coax Axel deeper, and of course, who was he to resist? Fingers tightening in the yellow spikes, he suddenly turned their bodies hard, changing the position to pin Roxas to the bed. The other was only surprised for a second before he pulled Axel back into a lip-lock. And were those his fingers sliding beneath his shirt?

Yes, this was an amazing kiss, Axel thought as Roxas's tongue earnestly slid against him. It was hot and sexy and everything he could possibly expect from Roxas. But it didn't taste like Roxas. It was missing something.

_Remember? This isn't real._

No… Axel sighed to himself as Roxas moaned into his mouth. _No, this isn't real. But I can pretend, can't I?_

The painful reminders were there, though. It was strange for Axel. He had had similar dreams before, but this one was different from the rest. Dream Roxas didn't protest when his shirt was ripped from his body, leaving him bare. He didn't offer sarcastic commentary when Axel struggled to unbutton his pants. The blonde only shivered and whimpered as Axel's fingers entered him and he was stretched. The only words of protest from him were that Axel needed to go harder, faster, deeper.

Axel looked down at the flushed blonde as he entered him. Roxas reached out to him, heated hands curling about his sweaty neck as Axel began to pound into him. His blue eyes were piercing into the red-head's as he panted, rolling his hips in time with Axel's thrusts.

"Axel…. Oh god, Axel…"

The red-head shut his eyes, the overwhelming feeling that this whole situation was wrong choking him. He wanted this. He had wanted it before and had dreamt of this before. But now, it wasn't right. This wasn't his Roxas. Axel suddenly felt dizzy.

"Axel…!"

These fake realities would never do, he thought, gritting his teeth. Not when the real thing was so much better. His Roxas-

"Axel!"

Axel hesitated.

"_Axel! Would you wake up already?"_

Funny. That actually sounded like _his_ Roxas. Opening his eyes to check if the naked Roxas was still panting underneath him, Axel found himself on his back, staring up into the scowling face of Roxas Mitsu.

_His _Roxas.

Blinking the sleep from his eyes, the red-head felt contentment swell up in his chest. "God, I love you."

Roxas raised an eyebrow at the other's strange behavior, "I'm sure. Will you get up now?"

"Hmm." Axel smiled lazily to himself, eyes slowly taking in the teen standing over him. There was a towel draped around his shoulders, and another one wrapped tightly around his waist. Dressed in only two towels and a scowl. Now this was more like it. "You just take a shower?"

The blonde nodded curtly, grabbing end of the smaller towel about his neck to run it over his wet hair. Axel missed the way Roxas's lips pursed and his eyes dropped to the floor. Instead, he hurriedly sat up and tugged the other into bed with him, immediately throwing the blanket back over the two of them before Roxas could protest.

"Gah! Shit, Axel!"

Roxas froze as soon as he hit the mattress and the comforter settled around them, his eyes wide and his hands still trapped by his head from where he had been drying his hair. He met Axel's amused green eyes and frowned. But Axel only continued to grin, arms sneakily making their way to wrap around the blonde's waist.

Axel couldn't wait. He needed those lips again. To refresh his memory, really. The dream had left a sour taste in his mouth and the only way to get rid of it was by kissing Roxas.

Which he did so, without offering Roxas any warning whatsoever. The pink lips stiffened instantly and Axel just had enough time to feel a frown twist them when a hand was pushing him backwards and Roxas was scrambling out of bed again, keeping a tight hold on the towel around his waist as he did so.

Axel sighed, watching as Roxas collected himself and began snatching clothes out of his suitcase. Ah well. It had been worth it. He sat up to observe the blonde, noting out of the corner of his eye that the second bed was empty. Hayner and Seifer had probably gone down to breakfast already. The sun was already up and shining, drying the rain-dampened streets outside.

"Good morning to you, too, sunshine. So what's up? I don't have to do the Sailor Moon thing again today, do I?"

A bundle of clothing flew at him and landed in his lap in response. Axel looked down at it as Roxas walked to the bathroom to change, his own outfit ready in his hands.

"No. You get to actually be male today."

Axel pulled out a piece of the costume and smiled shrewdly, observing it. "Oh, good. No more high heels, then."

------------------------

"Oh, don't you two Narutards look cute…" Hayner laughed from the table in the lobby where he and Seifer were eating muffins and drinking coffee.

"Speak for yourself, Hayner." Roxas smirked in response, rolling his eyes as he walked past to grab himself breakfast. Axel, however, was deterred. He looked from himself to Roxas, partially confused and wary of the phrase.

"… Narutard?"

"Don't worry about it." Roxas was back already, pressing a mug of coffee into Axel's hands. "And don't listen to them. They're being hypocrites. Right, _Shikamaru?"_

Hayner idly scratched at his topknot. "Maybe so. But you two are the leading pair, so I think that makes you a lot more eligible. Besides, Seifer makes a damn sexy Neji. Right, Seif?"

"Duh." Seifer tossed his long, black tresses over his shoulder to peck Hayner on the lips while Roxas rolled his eyes and sat down at the table. Still bewildered, Axel joined the three. He really was completely out of his element when it came to things like this.

"So who am I?" He took a sip of coffee, looking to Roxas.

Roxas grinned widely. Axel almost choked on the hot drink. Roxas always started getting much too happy and pleased when it came to torturing Axel. It made the red-head's neck hairs strand straight up.

"A teme."

-------------------------------

There comes a time in everyone's lives when we all learn a very, very valuable lesson or two. Obviously, for Axel, this was such a time.

He thought that the second day of Otakon would prove to be easier than the first. He couldn't have been more wrong.

Lesson number 1: Never trust Roxas when he has that evil gleam in his eye.

As Axel came to find out, he had been forced into a "Sasuke" cosplay. Who this Sasuke was, Axel was unsure, but the character was apparently extremely popular amongst fanatical fangirls with bright pink hair and voices of harpies.

"OH MY GAWD, SASKAY!"

"Sasuke-kun, I love you!"

"Marry me, Sasuke-kun!"

He should've known that Roxas would pick out an outfit like this to make him suffer.

There wasn't exactly anything stunning about the character's outfit, even. In fact, it was rather bizarre. There was a baggy, white long sleeve that looked like it should have had buttons, but didn't, which left Axel's chest almost completely out in the open. Then there were the strange short pants, held up by a thick purple string, as well as what Hayner jokingly called "Ninja boots."

"What kind of ninjas wear shit like this?" asked Axel, dumbfounded.

The only amusing part was the sword tucked into his purple rope… belt thing, as well as the black wig. Axel had never imagined his hair being another color, but black actually seemed to suit him. Even Roxas admitted it. Duck-butt hair and all.

Axel wasn't sure whether it was the revealing shirt or the wig, but many girls found it necessary to jump on him, screaming and touching any part of his body they could which, considering the open shirt, was quite a considerable amount. And while it was almost every man's dream to suddenly have swarms of eager girls crawling over him, Axel figured he could have enjoyed it a great deal more if they were his age, not screaming, and blonde. With spiky hair and blue eyes.

Hell, just Roxas jumping him would have been perfectly acceptable.

Lesson number 2: The difference between uke and seme.

Axel stared blankly at the two girls who were grinning at him, cameras in hand, as Roxas paled visibly. "Am I what?"

The first con-goer giggled to herself, clearing her throat as her curly hair bobbed about her shoulders. "Are you uke or seme? Y'know, SasuNaru or NaruSasu?"

"In other words…" The second girl spoke up, looking excited, "Are you top or bottom?"

Realization dawned in Axel's eyes as Roxas flushed. Axel knew what this was. _Yaoi_. His favorite. Things were looking up. "Oh, I'm definitely seme. Right, _Naru-chan?_"

The orange-clad Roxas scowled at him, his bright blonde hair styled into even choppier spikes that were held back with a forehead protector. He did not look pleased in the least. The drawn-on whiskers on his cheeks stretched as his frown increased in warning. "Well, _Sasuke_-_teme_, that depends."

The two girls interrupted their argument. "Could we maybe get some fanservice?"

If there were two words Axel was familiar with, it was fanservice and yaoi.

"How about it, dobe?" Axel turned to his blonde, chuckling gently, making a note to himself to thank Hayner and Seifer for teaching him some of names Naruto and Sasuke seemed to always call each other. Roxas seemed to consider it briefly before expelling a frustrated breath. He stepped forward, mouth set in a determined line.

The girls squealed as Roxas took action, surprising Axel, and grabbed the edges of the red-head's shirt, tugging him down into a hard kiss.

There were camera flashes and more squeals, but Axel only took in the way Roxas's eyes had slid shut as his lips pressed hesitantly to his. He couldn't help but think back to how this was so much better than any dream. With a small smile, Axel tucked his own fingers into the front of Roxas's jacket to pull him even closer, sneakily tugging down the zipper at the same time. If fanservice was demanded of him, Axel made it a point not to disappoint.

Lesson number 3: Yaoi fanservice draws crowds.

Lesson number 4: Don't take things too far.

Axel groaned to himself, rubbing at a bruise on his shoulder where Roxas had punched him. He burrowed his head into the pillow as he heard Roxas walk back into the room, free of make-up and costume. The second day of Otakon had winded down, and the group had retreated to the hotel once more. Axel wasn't sure how that day had passed by so fast, in-between the constant wanderings, trips to the Dealer's Room, and the massive picture-taking sessions he had gone through, the day had almost dragged on for him.

"You didn't have to punch me that hard…"

Roxas snorted, tossing the ninja headband into his suitcase. "You're the one who decided to start taking off my shirt in front of an entire gaggle of screaming fangirls."

A sneaky grin came to Axel's lips. "You know you liked it."

"I swear, if I find pictures or, heaven forbid, a video of that on the internet, you're dead." was Roxas's reply. Axel laughed, rolling onto his back to stretch and yawn. His head felt strangely light from the absence of a wig, and clearer. The anime convention was fun, really, but Axel decided that he preferred the peace and quiet of the hotel to the hoards of people at the convention area. At least he finally had Roxas all to himself.

"So what now?" Axel murmured, more to himself than anything else. Roxas merely shrugged, wandering around and cleaning up the clothes scattered about the room. Hayner and Seifer had left to go to the rave, leaving the exhausted Axel and Roxas alone.

"Sleep?"

Axel glanced at the clock. "Aw, c'mon, it's only 11:00. You're no fun."

"Right, I'm sorry, going to sleep at a reasonable time is completely uncalled for." Roxas smirked sardonically, eyes rolling as he finally sat down in an armchair.

"Absolutely. You should be ashamed of yourself." replied Axel, teasingly shaking his head in disapproval. He pushed himself up into a more upright position, leaning on the headboard of the bed frame. "Let's do something, instead."

"How about… not." Roxas abruptly looked away to stare out the window, eyes dark. Axel fell silent, staring at the blonde. He didn't appear angry. "Troubled" seemed to be the right word. Saying nothing, Axel contented himself by just watching, taking in the messy yellow spikes, the distracted blue gaze, the pouty pink lips… He loved those lips. And the blonde's slender hands, his smooth neck, his tanned skin. He loved those, too.

Hadn't he said that he loved Roxas this morning? Granted, he hadn't said it seriously, but now, perhaps he was due for a serious reconsideration of the statement.

"How did you find out you were gay?"

Axel's thoughts came to a screeching halt.

Oh yeah. He was definitely due for a serious reconsideration.

------------------------------

If Axel had had an educational day, that Roxas's had been especially informative. The previous night's rave and the hectic morning afterwards had made Roxas jittery and anxious. He had lost his firm resolve thanks to his indecisiveness. He wasn't sure how he felt about Axel anymore. It had been simpler before their second meeting. Then, it had been purely sexual. And sexual connections could be easily separated.

When had they gone past that boundary? They hadn't even had sex yet!

But the rave and the dreams his mind had conjured for him afterwards were proving more troublesome. His thoughts were betraying him, straying constantly to Axel. All through the day, jealousy had flared up every single time a Sakura cosplayer hugged the red-head. And when it came to Roxas's turn amongst demands of more yaoi poses, he had grown so angry at Axel that he had plunged unwittingly into that fierce kissing match.

He had felt himself getting lost in the kiss and the subtle touches, just like the multiple times before. It had taken everything in Roxas's willpower to pull away as soon as he felt Axel's fingers slide beneath his shirt. And it shouldn't have. Roxas _should_ have stopped it long before that.

But he hadn't. Which troubled him. And his libido, obviously.

Roxas was becoming aware of how he was laughing at Axel's occasional jokes. When they walked side by side and their shoulders bumped against each other, Roxas felt a jolt of something stir the bottom of his stomach. Every time Axel tried to coax him into another kiss, Roxas wanted to give in and when he didn't, his body screamed in protest.

He knew exactly what it was. It had happened before, with his last girlfriend. And Roxas was shocked. At himself.

Really, he thought he knew better.

But before he came to terms with himself, he needed to find out what Axel's stance was on the situation.

"How did you find out you were gay?"

It was a perfectly reasonable question. Roxas just wanted to know how Axel became sure. Because he sure as hell wasn't. Axel just appeared startled at the question. Granted, it had come completely out of the blue. The red-head considered for a moment before replying. "Who said I was gay?"

Roxas's eyebrows furrowed at this. "I was under the impression that you were, Axel. Or am I wrong here?"

"I do believe the correct term is bisexual." Axel crooned, beaming and looking amused at the conversation topic. "I dig chicks, too. Why do you want to know? Aren't you…?"

"I hadn't really thought about it." Roxas admitted, sounding annoyed. At Axel's puzzled look, he added, "Before you came along, at least."

"Oh, good, did I bring the gay out in you?"

Roxas gave him a dark glower. He should have known that Axel wouldn't take this seriously. "You didn't answer my question."

"True enough. Alright." Axel tucked his hands behind his head. "It didn't happen in a flash of light or anything. Back in junior year of high school, I was going out with this really sweet girl, but her ex-boyfriend and I argued all the damn time over her. He thought he still loved her, while I insisted that he might as well move on because she was mine."

Roxas tilted his head, listening and wondering vaguely where this story could possibly end up.

"In the end, it came down to us starting up this huge fight at a party my girlfriend had decided to throw. I mean, we were both drunk anyway, and we just let out emotions take out. Luckily, I was friends with Demyx at that point, and he pulled me out of there after I got a black eye and a bleeding lip. And then he and I kind of hooked up in my girlfriend's bedroom after my cleaned my wounds, so to speak."

"How romantic. Your first gay hook-up happened after you got the shit beaten out of you." Roxas muttered, trying not to smirk but failing. The story was so typically Axel that it entertained him.

Axel grinned. "Hey, I won that fight, I'll have you know. But yes. That's when I kinda realized that I could deal with guys or girls in a relationship. It's not like it's a big deal or anything. Just opened my horizons bit more."

"You _would_ put it that way, wouldn't you?"

The red-head shrugged in response. "It's true. Now answer me this. Are you having second thoughts, my little uke? About us?"

"In a way." Roxas answered slowly. Axel stared, eyes half-shut as he observed the blonde from the bed. Shifting in the armchair, Roxas sighed. "I dunno."

"You have issues with deciding on what you want or don't want."

Roxas started, returning his eyes to Axel's green ones. Another tense moment passed, when Roxas relaxed and nodded. "I guess I do."

"What do you want, Roxas?" Axel was sitting straight up, hands propped on his knees. Roxas stared down at his lap. What did he want?

"I want…" He murmured slowly, as if weighing his words. "… I don't know. I want more to this. I don't want to remember you forever as the guy who got Slurpee over me at Seven-Eleven. I want to actually decide, not sit in confusion. I want to know what you want from me. I want things to be simpler." Roxas's voice began gaining volume and strength.

"I want us to be friends. I want us to be more than friends. I want you to actually mean something to me. I want to matter. I want there to be something meaningful between us, not just that we randomly met up and you're mainly in it for the sex."

As soon as Roxas finished, Axel let out a shaky "Wow" and sat back against the headboard again. Roxas had never seen him so rattled before. Pulling his feet up onto the cushion, the blonde wrapped his arms around his legs and propped his chin on his knee to hear out Axel's response. He hadn't wanted to bring this all up now, but it had flowed together into one long list that he couldn't stop. Whether he wanted to or not, all of the problems that he and Axel had created were going to be resolved now, for better or for worse.

"You're making this so much more complicated for yourself than you need to, Roxas." Axel began, one hand still frozen in his hair where he had been scraping his hands through. "And you're trying to find reasonable explanations for what's happening that aren't actually there."

Roxas opened his mouth to protest, but Axel cut him off. "Hear me out. Let me put this to you as bluntly as I can. You and I met. I gave you a handjob. You called me back. We did some other stupid stuff. If there was nothing tying us together, we wouldn't be here right now. We're friends already, Roxas. We've got a lot more in common than you think, but you've just been so stubborn on fighting this that you haven't noticed."

The mattress groaned as Axel leaned forward, expression serious. "You wouldn't have called me back, I wouldn't have stuck around, and we wouldn't be here right now if what we started wasn't important. I mean, _yes…" _Axel rolled his eyes, "What we had to begin with may have started out rocky, but that's just how things work sometimes."

"Are you saying that…"

"I'm saying that right now, right at this very moment, you mean a lot to me. I already know I'm attracted to you. You're attracted to me, too, but you've just been waiting for something to prove that to you and you're so fixated on idea that this might be wrong that all the proof is passing you by."

"Axel…"

"I mean, I'm usually someone who can just go with the flow, but this stopped me dead, too." Axel barreled onward, seeming to cut loose as well. He gestured occasionally with his hands as he talked. "I find myself wondering why dreams of you aren't as good as the real thing. I catch myself staring at you and wondering how absolutely peaceful you look when you're not frowning at me. Y'know what, Roxas?"

Roxas wasn't sure if he wanted to hear any more. But he kept his gaze unwavering. "What?"

"I just may be falling in love with you."

Roxas barely kept the stutter out of his voice. He took in the intense green stare and swallowed. "And how did you come to a conclusion like that?"

Axel suddenly laughed, shrugging and feeling almost content with his confession. "I don't know. I have no_ fucking_ idea. But unlike you, I'm not going to question it. I'm going to accept it. I might be in love with you. Now it's up to me to do something about it."

He paused, allowing the information to sink in. When Roxas said nothing, Axel stuck in the final blow.

"So decide, Roxas. Do you want to drop this whole thing? Or do you want to drop your insecurities and indecisions and try to make something out of this?"

Roxas opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, then finally stood to walk over to sit beside Axel on the bed. As soon as he was settled on the pillows, back against the headboard, he glanced over to the other teen. Axel was keeping a surprisingly calm face, just waiting for an answer.

"How can this possibly work out?" Roxas finally asked, lips just barely curved down.

"No fucking clue. But we can make it work, if you're willing."

"Then…" with a resigned sigh, Roxas closed his eyes tiredly. "Then let's see what we can make of this."

"I was hoping you'd say that." Roxas blinked just as Axel pulled him into his lap, arms around his waist. "Do I need to make it official or anything?"

Roxas's body fell slack as Axel's hands began to warm his sides. He could get used to this. Maybe. Hopefully. "What do you have in mind?"

"By asking you out!" Axel purred into the blonde's ear, sounding pleased.

"You don't really have to…"

"Roxas, will you go out with me?"

A deep exhale ruffled the spikes of red hair that were falling over Roxas's shoulder. "Sure. Wouldn't be the worst thing I've done."

Hours later, Hayner and Seifer returned from the rave to find Axel and Roxas curled up against each other in bed. Roxas's cousin rolled his eyes as he dragged Seifer into the bathroom for a shower.

_About time, Roxas. About damn time.

* * *

_

No, this isn't the end of SD. It was just something to finally, kinda… confirm things. Regardless that I pretty much dislike this chapter because it refused to be written. At all.

I'm a little unsure at this point on how I'm going to end SD. There're two options. I either wrap it up in a chapter or two, or let it keeping going a little longer (those boys have school to go to, y'know :P) so we'll see. I will probably spend some posts rambling about it on my livejournal or dA or something. xD

And I assure you all. _That scene_ is coming. Yes. That one. Over there. In the distance. It'll be here, soon.

Don't forget to review!


	7. Filler: Aqueous Discombobulation

Before you guys go eating my face off, I'll just say that yes, this is a filler, and an AU one at that… as well as a smutty one -facepalm- So no, in the real SD timeline, this never actually happens… I think. xDD

I've been dying to write an ARR (Axel/Roxas/Reno) for ages now, and the next actual chapter of SD isn't written yet, so enjoy this chapter, guys. You'll like it, trust me. xD We'll return with your regular Special Discount programming next update.

This chapter is quite appropriately dedicated to Nijuuni from dA.

* * *

**Chapter 7 -Filler-**

_"Aqueous Discombobulation"_

* * *

There was a soft hush in the air. All was still and quiet. Even the dust had halted in midair, hovering in the bright spring sun. Roxas paused in the doorway, eyebrow raised. Things were never quiet in this particular house. Never. The two red-heads that occupied it never allowed the silence to settle before they were arguing or fighting all over again.

"… Axel?"

Only silence met his reply. The blonde sighed and strode into the living room, snapping the door shut behind him.

"Axel, I know you're here. And probably hiding." Roxas spoke into the quiet, dumping his school bag by the couch in the living room as he moved on to investigate the kitchen. Sure enough, a stray strand of red spike was traitorously poking itself from around the tiny granite island in the middle of the area. And still, Axel didn't accept the fact that the game was up. Unbelievable.

A sudden smirk spread over Roxas's lips. Stilling his movements, he dramatically sighed and rolled his eyes, moving to the cupboards to grab a glass, then to the refrigerator to pour himself some water. "Goddamnit, Axel… where the hell are you?"

He always kept one eye on the twitching red spike, wondering vaguely why Axel was still keeping up the charade. Nevertheless… the blonde took a sip of the water, taking silent steps around the island. Inch by inch, he saw more of the back of Axel's hair, which the man had decided to pull into a tamer pony-tail. The red-head was kneeling too, apparently.

"If only he wasn't being an idiot and trying to hide from his boyfriend…" Roxas finally said loudly, almost shouting down at the man while holding the cup in front of him. The startled expression on Axel's face was priceless. The red-head violently jumped, spinning on his feet to face the blonde, only to have a full glass of water poured over his head.

Unfortunately, Roxas's expression afterward was enough to match Axel's, who, as it turned out, was not Axel at all, but his older brother Reno.

The taller red-head blinked up at Roxas, water dripping from his hair, into his clothes, and onto the floor. The blonde nervously placed the now empty glass onto the counter and backed away as Reno moved to get up. Standing, the man sighed, plugging out the ipod earbuds before they were ruined with the water and switching off the mp3 player as soon as he tugged it from his pocket. Roxas felt even more embarrassed now; Reno hadn't even heard him come in. The red-head, still not looking to Roxas, shook his head like a dog, which resulted in splattering the rest of the kitchen and Roxas in the liquid. Then, finally, he switched his annoyed green gaze to the shorter man. He looked rather intimidating with his hair plastered wetly to his face.

"Y'know, Axel is complaining all the time that I don't do anything around the house, and the _one time_ I finally decide to help out and fix the damn cupboard on this island thing, his boy toy sneaks up on me and pours water on my head." Roxas blinked, feeling a flush spreading over his cheeks as the older man frowned at him. Sure enough, there was indeed a small pile of tools on the floor by the island.

"Dare I ask what I did to deserve that?"

"Eh hehe…" Roxas tried to grin in apology, but it came out as more of a grimace. He took another step back, too paralyzed to wipe the droplets of water from his face. "Sorry. I thought you were your brother… you guys kinda look alike from the back."

Reno huffed and shook his head. "C'mon, you've known him for more than half a year already. You'd _think_ that you'd be able to tell us apart by now."

"You guys are practically twins with hair like that!" Roxas shot back, annoyed. "Anyone could make the same mistake."

The red-head took a moment to look over Roxas as the anger receded from his eyes. The blonde immediately turned his gaze to the grin that was a mirror image of Axel's. Reno moved towards him.

"So what you're saying is that, if it was dark and you only saw my hair… there's a chance you would think it was Axel?"

"No. I'm not completely blind." Roxas found himself backing up again, disliking the gleam that had appeared in the man's green eyes. He recognized it well, considering how many times he had seen it in Axel before. It was a predatory look, and usually ended with Roxas submitting to the other man after a good series of kisses and bites and… things like that. And despite how similar they looked, Roxas would never fall for Reno. Ever.

No matter how good he looked with wet hair and a smirk on his face.

Roxas cleared his throat just as his back hit the main countertop of the kitchen. "Look, I just came over because Axel told me to. I didn't think that he'd be out…"

"As far as I know, he's still here… somewhere. So you must just be early. Or he's lost track of time." Reno glanced briefly at a nearby wall clock before shrugging and, to Roxas's horror, starting to pull his soaked shirt off. The blonde didn't even have a chance to protest; the article was quickly pulled up and over and a slim, pale chest was thrown into view. Roxas's jaw dropped.

While the brother's were similar in skin tone, attraction to blondes, hair and eye color, as well as cockiness, Roxas had to admit that their bare upper bodies were different. Axel's chest was wider than Reno's, which was especially accented with Axel's hips. Reno's body, on the other hand… it was just completely slim. Built, granted, but slimmer. His chest melted smoothly from his stomach down to his hips.

Of course, Roxas didn't notice this at all. Nor was he staring at Reno's chest as water from his hair dripped down the smooth expanse of skin. Definitely not.

"Why the hell are you stripping?" Roxas finally hissed, frowning and disliking the way his thought process was going.

"Well, you did pour water on me, Roxas." Reno explained calmly, taking his shirt to scrub it over his still soaked head. Roxas could tell from his smile that he was trying not to laugh. "We've both men here, nothing to be freaking out about."

"You couldn't have waited to change somewhere else?" Roxas jerked his eyes away from where they had been fixed on a certain pair of nipples. Why had he come here again? Ah, yes. Axel.

_Oh yes_, a small voice piped up in his head,_ You certainly didn't come to check out Reno and his sexy chest._

_I didn't. This just happened by itself. I came here because Axel called me over, _Roxas argued with himself._ It's not my fault Reno is good-looking. But I'm with Axel, so that's that._

The small voice still had the last say.

_Nothing wrong with having both at once._

A tremendous roar of "OH NO YOU DIDN'T!" would have been appropriate in Roxas's mind, if he actually used such phrases. Instead, Roxas only gulped as Reno answered.

"Why do that when I can change right here and get you riled up?"

Roxas gave Reno one last warning glare before pushing away from the countertop. "I'm gonna go look for Axel."

"Speaking of Axel…" Reno moved fast. Roxas had just been turning his head to look back at the red-head when all he suddenly saw was chest, flanked by two lithe arms that pushed him right back against the counter. The Hotaru brothers apparently loved trapping their prey before going in for the kill. Roxas winced, feeling the bare-chested red-head leaning in, his voice a husky murmur. "He mentioned something about your first encounter with him… how he had to lick slurpee off your face…"

Warm breath fanned over Roxas' cheek, causing a few of the remaining water droplets on his face to twitch and slide down his face. One small bead managed to get stuck in his philtrum, right above his lip. The small amount of water hovered there, but refused to drop. Roxas held his breath while Reno stared briefly at the droplet, smiling for a moment before swooping in to lick it off.

His warm tongue meshed gently over Roxas's lips and the red-head even went as far as to press a small kiss there before turning his head to speak into the blonde's ear. "You seem to like getting things licked off you." He whispered, "I'm sure I can think of some other things for you to lick off…"

"Don't you have a boyfriend of your own?" Roxas winced at the lusty undertones in Reno's voice, eyes already glazing over and lips tingling. He shivered, staring straight ahead to the opposite side of the kitchen as the other man continued to hiss into his ear.

"Nothing wrong with a little promiscuity. Forget about Axel…" A kiss was planted on the outer shell of his ear, "You're much better with me, blondie…"

In a _whoosh_, all of the haziness in Roxas's eyes disappeared and the self-control that Reno had coaxed away returned. Only Axel could call him 'blondie' and get away with it.

"Knock it off." With a growl, Roxas pushed hard at the man's chest, hand slipping slightly on the firm but still wet surface. Reno backed off, freeing Roxas with a sly smile. Roxas ignored him, irritatedly wiping away at the saliva on his cheek as he stormed out of the kitchen, intent on finding Axel and telling him off for not keeping his molesting brother on a shorter leash.

Luckily, Roxas didn't have to roam far. As soon as he made it out of the kitchen, hand still scraping over his face, more to brush off the lingering warmth still there more than anything else, he met Axel. The younger Hotaru brother stood at the far wall of the living room, where a hallway branched off deeper into the house. There was a towel wrapped around his neck. And he looked surprised.

"Roxas? … the hell are you doing here?"

Roxas scowled, relief at actually seeing his boyfriend and not his tempting brother flooding away. "You _told_ me to come here!"

"I told you to come by at 3:00. It's 2:15, Rox." Axel laughed weakly, scratching at his head. "Listen, never mind. Let me just take a quick shower and I'll be right out, ok?"

What, more time alone with Reno? _Shit_. Roxas dropped his hands to his sides, still unable to relax his features from the permanent frown on his lips. "Why did you even invite me over?"

Axel paused, just as he had been turning around to head back deeper into the house. "Well, it's our spring break… I figured that maybe we could, like, have dinner together or something like that…"

There was a snigger from the kitchen but Roxas chose to ignore it. "Dinner? As in…?"

"As in me cooking food and us eating it?" Axel chuckled sheepishly, "I swear, I'm a good cook."

The confusion and disbelief continued to rise. He was going to sit through more agony with Reno to be fed? "Cook _what?_"

Axel had obviously been expecting better reception of his idea. He pouted slightly, scratching at his head. "Well, I don't know. I'm pretty good at Chinese cooking. Pork dumplings or rice, maybe some salad…"

Roxas only stared at the man's response, wondering how much more unbelievable the situation could become. Axel sighed and waved him off. "Just sit, ok? I'll be right back."

So the blonde had no other choice but to turn and head over to sit in the coach that he coveted so dearly for its fantastic comfort. Axel left to go shower and in a few minutes time, Roxas heard the distant hum of running water begin. Resigned now to his fate, the younger man turned to his bag that was still where he had dropped it, proceeding to tug out a book that he needed to read in time for the start of his spring semester.

_I might as well get something useful done while I wait for that idiot to shower and… _Reno chose that moment to walk in, and, _that bastard_, he was eating a banana to boot. Roxas didn't miss the sexual innuendo, but he couldn't hold back the annoyance at the man. The man was blatantly hitting on him to drive Roxas away from Axel, which was something that Roxas wouldn't do in a million years. Not after all the bull they had been through.

That firm resolution was obviously why Roxas found himself peering over the top of his book to watch Reno close his mouth slowly over the phallus-shaped object. His eye twitched. There was Reno, slender fingers wrapped around the end of the yellow fruit, mouth wide as it skimmed over the soft tip of the fleshy banana. Teeth flashed briefly as the man flicked a tongue out to briefly wet the fruit, a completely unnecessary action if not for the sole purpose of making Roxas squirm. To finish off, Reno then snapped his jaw together to take a bite out of the banana. Roxas shakily swallowed.

_Don't look at the man biting at the penis-shaped fruit. Don't look at the man biting at the penis-shaped fruit. Don't look at the man biting at the penis-shaped fruit…_

"Interesting book?"

Roxas's eyes immediately darted back down to the forgotten pages of the novel he had been reading. "Uh, yeah. War and Peace. Riveting."

Roxas flushed as he buried his nose back into his book. Reno was chuckling and still, the rush of water deeper in the house didn't stop.

_Honestly, how long does it take for him to shower?_ Roxas wasn't entirely sure how much more he would last out with a man like Reno. Fingers tightly clenched around his book. Axel must have at least started on conditioning his hair, right?

_Please, oh god, don't let him be a shower whore…_

Five tense minutes later and Roxas came to terms with just how much of an ass Axel was and just how far Reno was willing to go to drive him up the wall. The older red-head had already "accidentally" dropped a piece of banana on his still bare chest, which prompted him to slowly reach down to pluck it up again, pop it into his mouth, then proceed to lick away slowly at the stickiness remaining on his fingers.

Axel and Reno really were brothers. They both knew how to make Roxas want to rip his hair out and move to a foreign country to escape the insanity. With a frustrated grunt, the blonde snapped his book shut and stood up, intent on going to tell Axel off while simultaneously escaping from the keen gaze of his brother. He refused to be seduced by him. _Refused_. It was bad enough that Axel could sometimes have his way with him… but _Reno? _Absolutely not.

Sadly, as Roxas stormed off, Reno quickly followed, carefully walking after him while keeping a safe distance between them. At the blonde's outraged glance over his shoulder, the red-head smiled innocently.

"I'm getting a little chilly. Blame yourself that I need to get a new shirt to wear."

Roxas could hardly argue with that logic, and, after all, Reno was in his own house. He had the right to walk anywhere he wished. With a growl, Roxas turned his attention back to finding the bathroom. The sounds of running water had faded out when the blonde had stood, but the smell of shampoo and body wash was enough of a trail to lead him to the right room. He stopped, hand on the doorknob and head turned to watch Reno smirk at him as he walked past and turn into another room.

As soon as Roxas was sure that Reno had disappeared from sight, he knocked on the bathroom door once before hurrying in and shutting the door behind him.

First, he was hit with a mass amount of steam in the hot room. Coughing slightly, he shook it off to see Axel looking at him bemusedly from the sink, a single towel wrapped around his waist.

"I knew you were impatient, Roxas, but you could've at least let me put some pants on…"

"Oh, shut up!" Roxas had found his nerves fraying, what with Reno's gentle nudges at his libido and Axel's cockiness. The heat of the room was already making him sweat and regret wearing a loose long sleeve over his T-shirt. "Why the hell did you make me wait so long? Especially with that idiot of a brother of yours!?"

Axel's amused expression changed to something of wary concern. His hair, still slick with water, hung around his shoulders, uncharacteristically unspiky. He blinked at Roxas past his drooping bangs, hand still curling around the towel about his hips. "Reno? What did Reno do?"

"He-he…" Roxas let out a whine of annoyance, waving his hands. He didn't know how to put it without making it sound like he had been flirting with the other man. "He was just being a freakin' pervert again! And eating a banana like… like…" Roxas found that he couldn't finish the sentence, but Axel got the message.

The red-head's brow furrowed as he took a step towards his boyfriend. It hadn't been the first time ever that his brother had attempted to snatch away his love interests. It was something of a hobby for the other man. "What did he do?"

Roxas shuffled his feet in discomfort, suddenly unable to voice the proper words. The idea of telling Axel that Reno had licked water off of his lips didn't look good for him, especially considering that the blonde had _let_ Reno do that. He faltered. "Er…"

"Nothing too dirty, Axel." The door had opened behind the pair without either noticing. Reno leaned against the doorframe, smirking. He had still failed to decently dress himself, and, even worse, the older man had let his hair down, which only added to his treacherous sex appeal. Roxas froze just as Axel placed his hands on his shoulder and addressed his brother.

"What the hell did you do to him?" Axel growled. Reno didn't appear intimidated. The taller brother chuckled and pushed himself forward into the bathroom, the steam hitting his bare chest like wisps of smoke.

"Like I said…" Reno smiled, the action causing the slender crimson tattoos around his eyes to crease, "Nothing for you to worry your touchy little head over. I just played with him a little. A little lick there, a little tease there… innocent stuff."

Axel didn't manage a proper response. Instead, he shoved Roxas to the side, flicking his hair over his shoulder as he did so. "I'm going to kill you. I _told_ you to stay away from him."

"But I couldn't help myself! He was practically asking for it, the way he just poured water all over my head, giving me a reason to take my shirt off. You should've seen the way his eyes went all wide and-"

"That's _it!_"

Without warning, Axel pounced forward and punched Reno square in the nose. Roxas hurried into the corner of the bathroom as the two engaged into a heavy brawl with practiced precision. The two fought intensely, smashing each other into any possible surface they could as ferocious growls and snarls echoed in the room. Staring, Roxas was fascinated how the men managed to grapple so well in such a cramped space. Experience, probably. He even had to give Axel credit for managing to keep the towel on, even after his brother shoved him down onto the floor.

But the fight continued on and Roxas soon realized that the brothers wouldn't be giving up any time soon. Unfortunately, his angry cries for the two to knock if off went unheeded.

Finally, after emptying out half of the medicine drawer onto the floor and upending the laundry bin, the two brothers managed to get a hold of each other's hair. Pulling until tears sprung up, they shuffled sideways, growling in each other's faces and attempting to kick the other in the shins. In their desperation to hurt each other as much as possible, they forgot about the drop-in bathtub at the other end of the room.

"Shit, you guys-!"

Axel and Reno toppled in with yelps of pain as their bodies hit the ceramic surface. Now awkwardly splayed in the decently sized tub, resembling nothing more than a pile of limbs, the pain took a moment to spread through their limbs, but as soon as it did, anger seized control again and the fight commenced with shallow punches and grunts.

Roxas stared in disbelief at the two scuffling, then decided that enough was enough. As much as the two probably deserved each of the bruises and scratches, the fight itself was getting ridiculous. Striding carefully over to the bathtub, Roxas looked down and gave both men a silent five second warning to stop. In their blind fury, the Hotaru brothers had forgotten about Roxas.

Reno grabbed Axel's neck and started to throttle him, while Axel retaliated with smashing the shampoo bottle into his brother's skull.

"I'll-kill-you-bastard!" Axel choked out with each thwack of plastic against bone. Reno only growled in response, squeezing harder.

The brothers' five seconds were up. With a resolute huff, Roxas closed the shower curtains with a snap, leaving the two to their fight, and reached his hand inside to grab the tap for cold water. With a vicious and unforgiving grin, he turned the knob to maximum.

Almost immediately, howls and unmanly shrieks of horror sounded from inside the shower area. There were sounds of thrashing and slipping, accompanied with squeaking and whimpers of pain, as well as thumps of fists and arms being smacked into the rubbery curtain that they couldn't exactly open to escape their watery torture. Roxas smiled to himself, allotting the boys another maybe ten seconds more of the treatment before finally shutting off the water and peeling apart the curtains again.

For the rest of his life, Roxas would look back on the image he saw and laugh hysterically. The brothers resembled soaked cats, slumped against each other with their arms and legs hanging every which way. Bruises were already forming on their flesh and there was even blood dripping from a severe cut on Axel's bottom lip.

Propping his arms on his hips, Roxas smirked, looking over the pair. "You guys cooled down?"

The Hotarus stared up at Roxas dazedly, then slowly exchanged glances. Simultaneously, the two reached up, grabbing the blonde and pulling him down into the bathtub. Roxas yelped, almost smacking into the tiled wall as he was roughly shoved down. Just barely avoiding a concussion, he allowed his legs to slip over the edge of the tub and his body to fall on top of Axel and Reno.

"Ow. Damn, Axel, your boyfriend is heavier than he looks." grunted Reno as the blonde's head smacked into his chest.

"Get your filthy banana hands off him, ass." shivered Axel in response, completely drenched. He shakily reached up to turn on some hot water to spray over all of the bathtub occupants; preferably himself and Reno, who felt numb from their previous "shower."

Roxas flinched, feeling the water soak into his clothes and hair. He tried to move into a more comfortable position in hopes of clambering out, but Reno had other ideas in mind. He casually wound his arms around the blonde's chest, pulling him back so that he could lean against the side of the cramped tub.

"Aw, c'mon, Axel… no need to be jealous…" Reno purred, resting his chin over Roxas's shoulder. "Just because I can turn your boy toy on better than you doesn't mean we need to fight about it."

A wince shook Roxas's body as sharp teeth moved to nip at his ear. He could see Reno's sly expression out of the corner of his eye, but the red-head was pointedly staring at his brother, challenging him. Axel only glowered, having already forgotten to turn the shower off again thanks to Reno's distraction.

"Let him go."

Reno's chuckle sent vibrations through Roxas's back, which was pressed against the man's chest. "Come get him… if you can. He seems to be quite comfortable here. Isn't that right, Roxas?"

Continuing his taunts, Reno leaned in to slowly scrape his tongue along his captive's neck. Roxas shivered, blinking the water from his eyes as he was held in the right grip of the older brother. Reno only continued his ministrations, shifting to leave small bites along the trail his tongue had made earlier.

Roxas hated feeling so helpless. The small nips and licks felt amazing, almost paralyzing, but the absolutely dull-eyed look in Axel's face was enough to completely numb the sensations with guilt. What the hell was he doing? Falling prey to Reno's tricks? _Like hell I am._

With a forceful shove, Roxas broke out of Reno's grasp and flopped over to Axel. He didn't get especially far from the older brother, considering the approximate four by two feet area they had to work with.

Axel looked from Roxas, who was now splayed across his lap, to Reno, a smirk stretching his lips. "Looks like he wasn't so comfortable there, after all."

Reno merely laughed again. "He just needs a little more persuasion, that's all."

Roxas, however, had had enough of being something to play with and be argued over. He glared at the two of them, hair thickly plastered to his skull as he hissed over the soft pattering of the shower water. "What am I, a toy? You guys can't just go and compete over who can turn me on the best, assholes."

It took all of the strength in the blonde's body not to smack the brothers for their looks of genuine surprise.

"We can't?" Reno voiced, blinking.

"No! You can't!" scowled Roxas, glancing over at the man who had spoken, "I can pick for myself, thanks!"

And to demonstrate his point, the blonde turned back to Axel, shifting slightly to straddle the red-head's barely covered waist. Before the man could properly react, Roxas slid his hand into his hair for leverage and smashed his lips into his. It was slippery at first because of the shower water, but Axel and Roxas soon found the proper rhythm. Roxas's eyes closed and he missed the triumphant glare that his boyfriend flashed his brother.

Almost if trying to convince himself that Axel's lips felt much better against his than Reno's, Roxas went desperately at the kiss that tasted faintly of blood, hurriedly slipping his tongue into Axel's mouth to have it tangle with the similar muscle. At the same time, his hand began to massage at the older man's skull, pushing Axel's face as close to his own as possible.

Roxas should have known that Reno also shared his brother's stubbornness. _Of course, _he didn't get the message that he should leave his brother and his boyfriend to it. Of course, he would demand to join in.

As soon as the blonde had grown comfortable with Axel's hands settling on his hips and the constant pattering of water on his head, the other red-head pulled a fast one on him. There was a murmur of "I won't go down so easily…" and a second pair of hands joined Axel's on Roxas's body.

Roxas choked into the kiss when Axel moved his tongue to begin exploring the inside of his mouth. Quick fingers were already working on stripping off his two shirts. At first, Roxas thought that Axel would begin to protest about Reno's participation, but he quickly caught on to Reno's demands and helped him tug off the unbuttoned long-sleeve, then the T-shirt beneath that. Panting, Roxas was left shirtless and the warm shower water immediately began to stream over his quivering chest.

When no move was made to resume to the previous activities, Roxas realized with a start that the brothers were staring at him with identical green, lusty gazes.

"Just this once." Axel muttered, lips bruised and still bleeding lightly. He finally reached up to turn off the showerhead, leaving the bathroom somewhat void in sound without the constant thrum of water.

Reno winked slyly. "Then I'll make it count."

Roxas gulped just as his own cock twitched in interest. _Both? Both at once?_

_Oh shit._ He didn't like the way that Axel and Reno were looking at him. Reno was even licking his lips.

There was a pause as the two exchanged glances again, and then… _they pounced._

Axel immediately latched back onto Roxas's lips again, sucking on his bottom lip, while Reno slunk in from the side to nibble on the blonde's collarbone, drawing out soft moans from the youngest man.

Roxas was torn. For one, he was completely powerless to do anything but be molested by the brothers, which he hated. But on the other hand, being molested by the brothers felt absolutely _amazing._ So to even things out, Roxas reached out to tuck his arms around Axel's neck and kiss back fiercely, pinning the man against the wall of the shower stall.

A hand, Roxas had no idea whose, was already traveling down his chest, pinching at his nipples. Another was making its way down to his groin where his hard-on was straining against the water-stiffened jeans that Roxas had unwisely decided to wear. Soon, the blonde didn't have enough breath to continue kissing, so he broke away. The red-heads took the break as an advantage to completely overwhelm him.

Reno slid over to begin biting and sucking at Roxas's nipples, teeth taking gentle care of the sensitive nubs as he swept his hot tongue over them. At the same time, he took both of Roxas's wrists and pinned them on the edge of the tub by the taps. Roxas was too out of breath and busy with trying to restrain himself from groaning loudly to protest.

Axel, meanwhile, had shifted down to rid Roxas of his bothersome jeans. His hands roughly brushed over the bulge that was Roxas's erection first, eliciting a whine from the man, before finally going to attempt to unbutton and unzip the slippery obstacles known as the button and zipper.

Roxas tried his best to help Axel along, despite the cramped condition. He had no idea how he and Reno were able to maneuver so easily around him. Reno was partially straddling him, still busy on marking his chest, while Axel seemed to have settled somewhere in-between his bent legs. Roxas was left to lie at the bottom of the tub among the sloshing warm water that had still not drained away, head leaning against the side of the tub.

He abruptly moaned, a guttural sound that surprised even him as his pants were pulled down, scraping harshly against his straining cock. At the same time, both brothers purred with pleasure at the outburst. Reno didn't even try to possibly swallow the noises with more kisses, contenting himself instead with moving up to create more shining red bite marks along the boy's neck and shoulders. Roxas broke his hands away from confinement only to dig them into Reno's hair, which was a great deal silkier than Axel's, he vaguely noted.

Roxas's legs were spread more as Axel leaned in to begin making his own marks, licking and sucking his way up the blonde's soft inner thigh, teasing him more than anything by deliberately ignoring the blonde's hard cock that was just begging for attention.

It was surprising that aside from Roxas's whimpers and moans, the brothers exchanged no words. The tense, musky silence swept over the trio and Roxas finally broke it with a soft murmur that came out as a pant.

"St-stop… teasing… asses…"

Roxas felt Reno's smirk on his neck, as well as the light tremors along his skin from the man's laughter. Reno's teasing fingers slipped down to knead at the blonde's hips, which were already beginning to buck upward to gain even the slightest bit of friction. He needed _more._

"That's your cue, Axel."

Roxas's breath sucked back in again with a gasp as Axel wordlessly curled his fingers around the base of the blonde's cock, then lowered his mouth over the tip. The feel of the man's hot tongue lathering the tip of his erection and dipping into the slit to lick away at the droplets of white liquid sent Roxas into a frenzy as he tossed his head back as far as he could, hips shaking as demands for more fell from his open mouth.

He barely noticed that Reno, along with sucking his neck at a harsh pace, was jerking himself off, or that Axel was doing the same. In retrospect, he'd realize that he had been rather selfish in the situation, but the brothers knew exactly what they were doing. They were, after all, still competing, racing to see who would bring Roxas the most pleasure while simultaneously jerking off as fast as they could. They had no other choice, unless they wanted to break the blonde.

It must have been the intense way that Axel was sucking him off, or Reno's fantastic technique of abusing his nipples, but Roxas quickly found himself curling in on himself as much as he could as came hard. His boyfriend swallowed down all of it while humming to himself. Roxas was left to his brief afterglow, slumped against the side of the bathtub as the siblings finished themselves off.

Afterwards, the trio, which had practically resembled a pile of bodies, huddled as they were in the cramped bathtub, rose to wash themselves off with yet another shower.

"Your water bill's going to be outrageous." Roxas chuckled tiredly as Axel scrubbed tenderly at his hair.

Axel only planted a soft kiss on the blonde's lips. "At least we're kinda conserving water now."

Reno clambered out of the shower first, looking as pleased as ever with a Cheshire cat grin painted over his face. "That was fun. Let's do it again some time." However, he found that Roxas and Axel had found themselves too occupied with exploring each other's mouths to reply.

"Hmph. Fine then." Reno sloshed out to the hallway towards his room, still dripping profusely as he left the two lovebirds behind. "See if I ever try to lend a helping hand again. Bastards."

_Fin_

* * *

… phew. TAKE THAT! -smacked with Godot's coffee cup-

Everyone alive from my first ever threesome and ARR attempt? xD Alrighty then. Hopefully, I stole someone's ARR virginity with this chapter. LAWLkekeke -nomnomnoms on stole'd virginization-

Don't forget to review!


	8. Day Three: A Corrupt Little Child

Above all, what I'd like to get out first is my deepest apology for lack of review replies for the ARR. It was my most popular chapter, by far, and nearly got 100 reviews alone, which is a record for me. Thank you SO much, you guys. Honestly, I can't even fathom all this at once, you're all way too amazing. And all of your ARR virginities were quite tasty, I'll assure you.

But I have completely slacked off on replies, which is rather shameful for me, considering how I've prided myself on replying to everyone I could and such. And you all left such lovely reviews, both old and new readers, and I just did not have time to get back to any of you and I apologize D: I'll start replies up again soon enough. I hope. Gah. But to answer some of your questions…

Alas, I don't know any other places to find ARR. DA is a good place to search, though. Will I be writing moar ARRzomgsexnaow? … possibly. Depends on how many people actually want more xD I'm still a hardcore AkuRoku fan at heart and the main SD plotline is AkuRoku. So no worries. Time to cut this AN short.

SD TIMEZ NAOW, KTHXBAI.

* * *

**Chapter Eight**

_"A Corrupt Little Child"_

* * *

There was something to be said about waking up with another person curled up around you in bed.

Even Roxas couldn't deny it.

He was the first to wake up on the morning of the very last day of Otakon. He lazily drifted back into reality without much enthusiasm, gently humming to himself in pleasure of how comfortable he was. It was soft and warm beneath the covers and there was an especially soft and warm body pressing against him.

Roxas shifted again to nuzzle into a firm, breathing chest. When he did so, the other pair of legs tangled with his own became more entangled as the arms entwined about his waist clenched together into a more secure hold. A wispy sigh and murmur by Roxas's ear accompanied the movement.

_"... too early... more sleep... mmm." _Obviously not yet in tune completely with the outside world, the blond snuggled further into the person he was sleeping with and melted back into a sleepy putty without even once opening his eyes. He would have time, after all, to worry about Axel, and the last day of Otakon, and the profession of love the night before... _later._

_... Wait...  
_  
"SHIT!" Roxas immediately sprang up, simultaneously head-butting Axel in his dash out of bed. "Damnit, damnit, damnit! Get up! Everyone, _up!_"

The clock read 8:13, which infuriated Roxas even more. As Axel groaned, slumped confusedly amidst the scattered blankets on the bed and effectively woken up from the unexpected wake up call, Hayner and Seifer were sluggishly rising as well. The blond filled his lungs with air again, sprinting about the hotel room and digging frantically through his bag. They had so much to _do_, to _buy_, to indulge in! And they were wasting all the valuable time they had _sleeping_? Not on Roxas's watch. This would just not do.

"UP! UP! It's the last day of Otakon, we need to get going, let's _go!"_

The room was left in an ominous silence as Roxas dashed into the bathroom to take a quick shower and slammed the door shut behind him. Axel rubbed his chin where Roxas had injured it, looking for some clarification from the pair on the other bed. Seifer was busy staring with glazed eyes at the ceiling, so it was Roxas's cousin that Axel turned to. "Er..."

"Great." Hayner rolled his eyes in the peaceful quiet, ignoring Axel as he yawned and ran his hand through his hair. "It's begun."

Cryptic phrases like that never boded well for Axel. The red-head sighed. Ever.

* * *

For the third and final day of Otakon, Roxas had finally allowed Axel to dress as he pleased, which cheered the red-head considerably. His greatest fear had been that the shorter male had saved the best costume for last, but he had thankfully been spared. The blond himself didn't bother cosplaying either, throwing on a shirt emblazoned with some anime character instead, as well as a pair of bright green goggles that were now nestled in his spikes of hair.

The blond had rushed the entire group back to the convention center as soon as Hayner, Seifer, and Axel had eventually consented to get up and go get ready, which took a good amount of harassing on Roxas's part. After a frenzy of complaining and energetic hand motions from the blond about how they needed to get moving and actually indulge in the last day, they had finally made it. Now, Roxas eagerly led the pack, hurrying through the steadily swelling crowd of con-goers towards the immense area where the dealers all sold their wares and anime-like goods.

Axel, to be perfectly frank, was torn between being astonished and extremely amused. Never before had he seen the usually grumbling Roxas be so _lively_. He had been relatively calm the previous two days, and yet somehow overnight, someone had given the boy an energy boost, which all started with the rather disappointing morning. Axel had been looking forward to waking up with Roxas, cozy under the blankets. But the blond had decided to flail out of bed and cause a riot instead. It really wasn't as romantic as what Axel had had in mind.

However, Axel definitely did not have any qualms about how their talk about love and their relationship from before had been temporarily put to the side. They would have time to deal with that later, after all.

Instead, the red-head decided to find out this stranger was and what had happened to his own Roxas.

"Does he do this often?" Axel muttered to Hayner as they followed after the crazed otaku from a safe distance, not bothering to keep up as they finally reached the huge Dealer's room.

Hayner grinned suddenly, "Oh, that's right. You've never seen Roxas's otaku side before."

Axel raised an eyebrow, glancing meaningfully at Roxas, who was already occupied at a booth, tugging out his wallet and pointing out random things. "Do tell."

The trio stopped nearby to watch Roxas and Hayner chuckled. "He's not like this a lot. He's usually a bit calmer and better at hiding it, but Roxas is a total nerd. Have you seen his room yet?"

"Not in detail, no." Axel thought back to the brief moment when he had snuck into Roxas's room to deposit his cat on the bed. He hadn't actually had time to look around the room too intently.

"Well, it's completely filled with all this junk he bought in bookstores and eBay. Figurines, manga, dolls, stuffed toys. He's a little obsessed."

Seifer, who had been silent thus far, abruptly spoke up, smirking. "But you have to give him props for having the best collection of hentai and yaoi. He's a corrupt little child. He puts up a good show to hide it, though."

"_Roxas_?" Axel gaped, hardly believing his ears. He glanced to where the blond was shuffling over to another booth and blinked. This was all news to him and he couldn't help but laugh slightly. _I should've known._

"I thought he didn't like yaoi. I mean, I knew he was playing hard to get yesterday with the fan service bit, but still…"

Hayner snorted softly, rolling his eyes. "He didn't like it until his last girlfriend, Naminè. That girl was obsessed with pairings guys up and seeing man-on-man action. I think she came over every single time Seifer and I were at Roxas's. We never got a moment's peace, seriously. The chick was crazy."

"That's probably around when he started wondering if he was bi, right?" Seifer said thoughtfully, "Right after those two split."

Roxas's cousin nodded, tucking his arm around the taller boy's waist. "Just about." He abruptly looked to Axel, "Didn't you ever wonder why Roxas didn't find the fact that he was almost molested by a _guy, _you_,_ strange?"

Axel pursed his lips, considering, "It crossed my mind briefly."

"Well, for one, he's not as innocent as he looks." Hayner chuckled, "And second, you caught him at a good time. He was just starting to consider that maybe he wasn't as straight as he thought he was. That was about a year ago. Naminè was thrilled, of course…"

Axel felt like he was a schoolgirl who was catching up on the latest gossip. _No wonder he had been asking about this last night._ First the confrontation, then the bizarre morning where Roxas had been completely out of character, now this. A frown curved his lips downward, "Damn, I guess I really don't know the kid at all."

"You're fine." Hayner said with a laugh. "You've got plenty of time to get through to him. He's just a stubborn idiot and likes to keep things normal and realistic for himself to make up for the fact that he's still a hardcore fanboy deep down inside. I mean, Seifer and I are anime nerds, yeah, but we can sort of show it in stride. Roxas usually just ends up making himself look like… well, you saw him this morning. And for him, the idea of hooking up with a random guy at Seven-Eleven is hardly realistic or normal."

There was a collective pause as the three thought back to Roxas's tirade hours ago before Axel running a hand through his hair and decided to finally put his doubts into question form. "I'm usually not one for being insecure, but why _is_ Roxas putting up with me? You two know him better than I do, he must have already told you about this…"

"Yeah, we know." Seifer shrugged. "Why, you starting to have a little remorse? Questioning yourself?"

Axel scowled slightly at the wide smirk adorning the bleach-blond's lips. "It's not like I want to ask you two for advice. But Roxas isn't big on telling me anything about himself yet, so I can't really tell where we stand at this point."

Hayner looked away from Axel to watch Roxas disappear from view as the blond headed deeper into the rows of booths. "It's not for us to say. I don't know, and I don't think Roxas is completely sure about this yet, either. He likes you, though. You struck a cord with him and despite your initial meeting, I think he trusts you. The only problem is that right now, he's being a little cautious about this sort of thing. What with his whole sexual questioning and that whole fiasco with Naminè…"

"What was the-…?" Axel began, but Seifer leaned forward and cut him off with a leer.

"She caught him with his best friend, Sora. With their pants down, so to speak."

This prompted an eyebrow raise from Axel and Hayner chuckled in response, "Apparently, it was all a big misunderstanding, but Naminè was so thrilled to see her boyfriend going gay and she wanted him to go after Sora. Roxas was so disturbed by the whole thing that they just called it quits anyway."

"Hmm, I think we just corrupted Axel's view of his love-interest, Hayn." Seifer sniggered, eyeing Axel amusedly. Axel could only manage a slight frown and a twitch of his eye.

He definitely had not seen _that_ coming. What else was this not-so-innocent kid hiding up his sleeve?

As if on cue, the not-so-innocent kid himself emerged out of the wave of roaming con-goers at that moment, his face split into a wide grin. "Aw, c'mon, guys, are you seriously all just standing around?"

"We bought everything we wanted while you and Axel were raking in the fangirls with their cameras yesterday." replied Hayner smugly, leaning against his boyfriend. "I'm sure Axel could tag along with you, though. He needs some anime merchandise to start up a collection, now that we've brought him over to the otaku side."

Axel was surprised to see that instead of looking displeased at the thought of being left along with the red-head, the blond smirked instead. Roxas moved to grab Axel hand. "Fine. Let's meet up at the Artist Alley later, then."

"It's a deal."

Seifer, of course, managed to have the last word. He beamed mockingly at the pair, waggling his finger. "Have fun, you two naughty children, you."

Flicking his eyes upward into an "I am not amused" roll, Roxas didn't deem Seifer's words worthy to respond to and simply dragged Axel away into the hoard of otakus and cosplayers. Axel had no choice but to follow, unable to help himself from seeing Roxas in a new light. Roxas? The corrupt little kid?

"If you're not going to get anything, then I'll just have to buy you something." said Roxas with a grin, finally releasing the red-head to allow him to fall into step beside him. "We can wander around a little until you see something you want."

Axel promptly forced himself to focus. He'd have time to muse about the secrets behind Roxas's usually grumpy demeanor later. If he confronted him now, it would only lead to unnecessary trouble. It was better to play dumb until the right moment, really. Axel managed to stick a smile on and then looked down at the blond. "What if I only want you, blondie?"

Roxas snorted, a wry grin adorning his lips that Axel loved so much. _And apparently, the lips his best friend had access to… hmm…_ Axel briefly lapsed back into his internal musing, but Roxas just as quickly jerked him back once more as he snatched his hand again and resumed the dragging. The strange gleam in his eyes, similar to the crazed one from that morning, had returned, and an eager look had come over the blond's features.

"You're an idiot. Come on, let's go find something appropriately perverted and ridiculous for you."

They didn't manage to get far, which was probably a good thing considering the immense size of the hall and the energetic method with which Roxas was tugging the poor red-head about. After two rows of booths, Axel hastily stopped and pointed. "I want that."

Roxas followed Axel's hand and gaze until he stopped at the correct dealer's table. He immediately frowned. "No you don't."

Axel widened his eyes, giving Roxas a shocked look. "You said you'd buy me something that I want, didn't you? I want that! It's a perfectly good thing for me to keep as a memento of our wonderful time here together."

"I meant a _toy_ or something! Not…" Roxas motioned weakly at the booth, looking slightly flustered. "… not _that._"

_Ah, there's the Roxas we all know and love._

Axel suddenly smiled, slinging an arm about the blond's shoulders. "It's only a paddle, Roxas. Granted, a paddle with "yaoi" on it, but still."

Roxas looked from Axel's winning smile to the yaoi booth they were standing in front of. Finally, he relented and sighed, tugging out his wallet as he did so. "Fine. Fine. But don't you even think for a minute that I'm letting you smack me with that."

"Who said anything about smacking? Paddles for smacking and/or possibly spanking?" Axel gasped in mock horror. "I've never even _heard_ of such a thing!"

"You _suck._"

"Only for you, Roxas."

* * *

"Looks like you two were productive."

A good two hours later, Axel and Roxas rejoined Hayner and Seifer in one of the large halls near the entrance of the convention center. Axel had happily shoved his paddle into his belt, wearing it like a sword, while Roxas had been forced to bear the embarrassment of being asked from the booth worker if he had any plans for the paddle with his boyfriend later tonight. Really, the suggestive eyebrow wiggles hadn't been necessary at all.

"Just a little shopping." Axel replied, lifting up some of the bags that held the rest of Roxas's splurging.

"Hey, I've been working two jobs this summer for a reason." Roxas smirked, having found his revenge in forcing the red-head to carry all of his purchases. "So are we done?"

"We are." Hayner lifted his shoulders briefly to ease any creaks in them. "Unless there's something else we planned on doing?"

"Not that I know of…" Roxas said slowly, eyes glazing over as he considered anything else for the group to indulge in before leaving. "I think we can go eat lunch and then head back to the hotel."

"Sweet. Then we'll go out later tonight." The four turned and began heading out of the convention center, sifting through the crowd to make for the exit. Seifer and Hayner took the lead, hands clasped together as they emerged outside.

Roxas turned to Axel to explain as they walked, "We're not leaving back for home today. We usually stay until Monday morning during Otakon and we go out on Sunday night."

The red-head shook his head. "That's fine. What do you guys usually… go out for?"

"After-parties, obviously." Roxas chuckled, taking back some of his many purchases to help Axel with the load. "I thought that you, of all people, could have figured that one out."

* * *

In retrospect, Axel supposed that he should have predicted what would happen next.

_It all went by so fast… since when did the bottles start piling up around blondie?_

Of course, no one had told him that Roxas wasn't much of a drinker.

_That better not be Roxas dancing like an idiot over there… shit, it is._

Or that the blond could get so easily flustered when Seifer and Axel teased him.

_I just poked some fun at his hair, he didn't have to go and drink my vodka…_

And it would have been impossible to foresee that the hotel where they stayed had a hot tub and pool that were open to the residents 24/7.

_Isn't there a chance of drowning if we do that?_

Most of all, though, Axel certainly did not possess enough knowledge about Roxas's character to anticipate that when it came to his drunken state, he was completely unpredictable. Still, as least he was calmer than his hyper otaku side from earlier in the day. It was the only thing out of the whole drinking situation that Axel was actually thankful for.

It had been Roxas's idea to go explore the pool and leave Seifer and Hayner to their "touchy-feely-ness," as he had said. He had been already tipsy at that point, but it would have been better if he had not snatched up another bottle of Smirnoff and proceeded to down it within ten minutes. Axel was partially buzzed himself, but had enough experience with alcohol to not go completely under after a few drinks. He had already sworn to knock Seifer out for suggesting that they even go to a bar for their "after-party."

"Hey. Hey. Hey Axel…" Roxas murmured, lolling lazily in the hot tub, clad only in boxers. Axel was sitting across from him, still conscious enough to keep his pants _on_, surprisingly enough, and mostly occupying himself with staring off into space and making sure that Roxas didn't kill himself. Apparently, now the blond wanted to make conversation.

"Hmm?" He blinked slowly, looking over at the other man who was slowly making his way through the heated water to his side -- Roxas proceeded to settle himself over the red-head's thighs -- scratch that, to his _lap. _Axel hummed slowly under his breath, already knowing where this could end up but too tired to protest.

"We should go to bed, Rox…"

The blond's answer was a collection of grunts and sighs, but Axel did manage to catch "don't want to" and "too hot" beneath all of Roxas's drunken grumbles.

The red-head allowed his head to fall back and rest against the edge of the small pool. He shut his eyes tightly, too weary to wonder how things had managed to turn out this way. Most of the day had been a blur. Morning, Otakon, a brief recollection of drinking a _lot,_ and now this. Had the day gone by so fast already? Hadn't it just been moments ago that Hayner and Seifer had been explaining the other side of Roxas to him? Hadn't he been thinking, not too long ago, about how different of a person Roxas really was?

Hadn't-

Roxas's face unexpectedly burrowed into Axel's shoulder, breaking off whatever idle stream of consciousness the red-head had been going through.

"M'sorryisuk."

Axel lifted his head, blinking the haze out of his eyes. Maybe he was drunker than he thought, because Roxas could not have just apologized for sucking. "… What?"

Roxas tilted his head slightly to look up and meet Axel's bleary gaze. The older man just managed to catch the dull, glazed sheen that was settled over the usually clear blue eyes before Roxas shut his eyelids.

"I'm sorry I suck."

"The hell are you talking about? You don't suck." Axel said slowly, finding the process of words difficult with the hot water swirling around his body and Roxas's own legs clasped around his own. Of course, the alcohol buzz didn't help, either.

"I do." Roxas groaned, his moving lips feathering over Axel's wet skin. "Yesterday, we got close to actually starting something between us and I just go and completely ignore it the next day."

_Huh. That was a complete sentence. Maybe Roxas isn't as drunk as I thought he was._

Axel took a moment to consider what to say before tucking his arms about the teen's waist and propping his chin on his water-dampened head. "It's fine, Rox. We're here for your stupid convention, not to discuss relationship details. We have time to worry about that later."

Roxas said nothing, but Axel could still feel his mouth moving over his shoulder, now solid touches of roaming lips to skin. He shivered slightly despite himself, setting himself against advances that Roxas would try to pull on him.

_He's drunk and doesn't know any better. He'll regret it in the morning. They always do. _

"You said you loved me."

Axel blinked, then smiled weakly. Roxas was just full of surprises today. His hold around the other loosened slightly. "I did, didn't I?"

Roxas's next words were softer as his body visibly relaxed. Axel saw his eyes flutter shut as he spoke.

"I don't know if I love you back."

Axel's heart clenched a tiny bit. Just a little. The red-head ignored it and continued to smile in a weary manner, even though the blond could not see the gesture. He didn't reply immediately but from the way that Roxas's breaths had deepened and his mouth had fallen slack, it didn't matter. The younger man had fallen asleep. Axel frowned thoughtfully, then allowed his eyes to slide shut.

"That's fine." He whispered, "I don't mind."

Axel had no idea how he managed to clamber out of the hot tub or carry Roxas back, but the next morning found the two curled up in bed, back in their hotel room, with the blond groaning loudly from a hang-over and Axel still wondering about just what the hell had happened to muddle up his life so much.

* * *

I dislike this chapter immensely D:

You've all probably figured out by now that I'm a major stalker for Nijuuni's work. You can tell, 'cause, zomgshamelessplug, I've started up another short multi-chapter based on her "To Move as One" picture, so go check it out naow! xDD

Meanwhile, I'll probably be working on a Phoenix Wright/Miles Edgeworth fic next after a quick vacation to Vermont. Gods, I'm addicted to PW like a silly idiot xD

REVIEW? D:


	9. Too Much Talk, Not Enough Sex

OHSHI- an actual update and not new stuff!

I've spent a lot of time in thought over this fic, though, and in the end, I decided that, for the greater good, this story shall end at ten chapters and one filler. I'm no longer as interested in this story and i'm not having as much fun with it as I am with my newer endeavors. So... In other words... the next chapter of Special Discount shall be the last one. Thank you, everyone, for all your reviews, for all of your nagging for me to update... you know who you are. xD It's been half a year, and I'm sure some of you aren't pleased with me cutting this fic short, but... it's for the best. So now, I bring you... a very, very overdue chapter. Enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter Nine**

"Too Much Talk, Not Enough Sex"

* * *

Roxas woke up to the sounds of Broadway being played somewhere not too far off. He heard Seifer and Hayner singing along softly, sometimes off-key. He felt a throb in his head.

He woke up to the jostles and bumps of a car going down a highway. He woke up with a dry taste in his mouth and a buzzing in his ear. He woke up to a bright ray of sunlight pressing down on his forehead. He woke up to the smell of cologne and the inside of Seifer's car. He woke up with his head in someone's lap and a hand brushing gently through his hair.

Roxas woke up to comfort and a dull hangover. And after a few minutes of brushing away the daze of sleep and registering a faint, familiar voice speaking just above his ear, the blond also realized that it was probably Axel who had woken him up with the soothing ministrations. Poking one eye cautiously open, Roxas gulped once or twice to clear the discomfort all over the inside of his mouth to scrape together a sentence in the form of a croak.

"Where the hell am I?"

All quiet singing stopped. Roxas had broken the peaceful calm. Now daring enough to have both eyes open, Roxas lifted his head groggily to take in the fact that he was lying sideways along the backseat of the car. The landscape was blurred beyond the window and Seifer was, as usual, driving. Hayner was peering around the edge of the passenger seat, looking amused.

This meant that it was indeed Axel's lap in which Roxas's head was currently resting. Sure enough, familiar fingers were still threading through his blond spikes and as Roxas's eyes traveled upward, they met the half-shut, green-eyed gaze of the red-head. His awakening could not have been any more pleasant… and horrifying. His head was in Axel's _lap_. Axel's fingers were in his _hair._ Taking in the knowledge was hard enough without the incessant, nauseating, painful drone in his brain.

"Well, party animal, look who's awake." Axel chuckled, raising an eyebrow as he looked down at Roxas. "You're in a car that is currently heading back home."

"How long have I been sleeping?" Roxas asked tiredly, smacking away Axel's hand to sit up and look around blearily. "What state are we even in?"

Hayner spoke up from the front, "We're in Pennsylvania right now. About half-way home. You kinda woke up when we were checking out of the hotel but promptly passed out on top of Axel once we got into the car. It's your own fault, man."

Roxas bit his lip as he scrambled dazedly back into his own respective seat. Axel didn't protest, simply leaning against the window and watching the blond. Thinking back, Roxas _did_ vaguely recall stumbling out of the hotel room, someone helping him on the way. He also remembered the elevator ride, as well as falling into the car. However, everything else was blank.

The blond realized that to have forgotten so much, he must have been very drunk. Ridiculously so.

"Um." Roxas ran a few numb fingers through his hair, a movement reminiscent of what Axel had been doing only moments before. He didn't want to focus on the redhead. Not yet. He needed to focus on getting his melted brain together first. And remembering just what exactly had happened the night before after his god-knows-which bottle of beer. "What… did I do?"

"While you were stone drunk, you mean?" Seifer snickered from the driver's seat, keeping his eyes on the road.

Hayner's response was a little more enlightening. "No idea. Axel was with you almost the entire time, actually."

Axel grinned slightly, guilty as charged, as Roxas turned expectantly and almost hesitantly towards him. The red-head cleared his throat, eyeing Roxas's look of fearful expectation, and shrugged. "You didn't do anything stupid, don't worry about it."

"You swear?"

"Would I lie to you?" Axel's eyes widened, looking hurt,"I just made sure you didn't drown in the hot tub. What do you think you did? Make out? Had a deep discussion about our relationship? Exchanged marriage vows, perhaps?"

"I wouldn't put it past you two…" Hayner muttered in the front, but Roxas pointedly ignored his cousin and glowered at Axel instead, even if it hurt to furrow his brow with the monster of a headache he still had.

"You could have taken advantage of me! It could have been rape!"

Axel's eyebrows lifted in surprise, "That hurts, Roxas. I assure you, the next time I come on to you, I'll be sure to make you very willing to participate."

"Can't rape the willing!" Seifer added in a sing-song voice.

Roxas glanced from Seifer's pleased smirk, to Hayner's held-back smile, then ended up on Axel's surprisingly fond grin. He couldn't win. With a scowl, he dug out his mp3 player and curled into the seat as much as possible, resolutely turning his gaze to the countryside sweeping past the window, releasing a deep breath. He didn't have any energy or patience to deal with the consequences of the night before. He hadn't missed the strange look on Axel's face when he had asked what had happened while he had been completely inebriated, but he didn't want to delve too deeply into its meaning just yet.

"You all suck."

They had at least three to four hours left before they made it home. As silence fell again, Hayner turned up the music, leaving Roxas to sulk and deal with his hangover as the rest of them returned to what they had been doing before the blond had graced them with his conscious self. Even Axel found something to do; he had stolen Seifer's Nintendo DS and was re-introducing himself to the world of Pokemon.

Unfortunately, now that the blond had been left to himself and his delightful throbbing headache, he was also left with a lack of distractions and that allowed his mind to wander.

His thoughts, after failing to fully concentrate on the scenery sweeping by him, eventually settled on the past three or so weeks of his life. Roxas could hardly believe it had only been that long. It felt like forever since he had met Axel in Seven-Eleven and had been graced with a hand job while covered in sweet, sticky slurpee. What had happened afterward? Roxas fought off the buzz in his brain, even turning his ipod off to concentrate better.

After that had been a week of agony and turmoil after his initial meeting with Axel. He had ranted, raved, suffered from wet dreams, then ended up complaining to Sora at his second job, only to shortly encounter the red-head at the pool and… Roxas frowned. Only to get another hand job which resulted in getting a ride home to Axel's house. That was about when things had started to go downhill. He had found out about the bet, as well as Reno and the rest of Axel's ridiculous friends.

Roxas didn't even want to ruminate on the bet and the way Axel had been sent to his particular Seven-Eleven only to get into his pants, despite Axel's pleas that he had a nobler cause. It had been bad enough just finding out about it and losing some of his trust in the red-head. Leaning his head against the car window, the blond sighed and pursed his lips. What next?

Easy, Axel had driven him home on his precious Ninja, but had then proceeded to barge in and stay the night instead. The next morning, Roxas had suggested the idea of the older man accompanying him to Otakon and that had ended up with a bit of explanation on Axel's part and… Roxas suddenly flushed. More molestation, of course.

Another quick week of summer had passed then, with Roxas hurriedly preparing costumes for himself and Axel with the help of Sora and Riku while simultaneously balancing summer school work and both of his jobs.

This brought him right back to the eventful three days of Otakon. The first had been Axel as Sailor Moon and himself as Tuxedo Mask. That had been amusing. Roxas even smiled to himself in recollection. The original intent of dragging Axel to Otakon had been to punish him for his disastrous actions at Seven-Eleven, but the trip had turned into something more of an adventure. The red-head had been shoved forcefully into the world of otaku and, to Roxas's surprise, ended up fitting in quite well.

And, although Roxas would never admit it, Axel had certainly proved he had the legs and hips for a Sailor Moon cosplay. The blond had had trouble keeping a straight face, yes, but the lanky man definitely still had something going for him with an outfit like that.

After that had been the rave.

Roxas swallowed nervously at that memory and hurriedly moved on. He didn't need to recall that event. It had been burned into his memory well enough.

Day two of Otakon had been even worse, though. Every single day with Axel seemed to increase the sexual tension and confusion between them. Roxas deeply regretted allowing Sora and Riku to convince him to borrow their Naruto and Sasuke cosplays. He also hadn't been too happy with Axel warming up to the idea of fanservice.

What had that ended with?

Roxas almost groaned aloud. Of course, how could he have forgotten? The _talk_. The discussion, the love confession. And he had agreed to go out with Axel. _God, I must have drunk a whole fucking barrel of vodka to forget something like that._

The next day was the worst, though. The third day of Otakon would probably always sit in his mind as one of the best and worst days of his life. The frenzy in the Dealer's Room had been good. He had also spent a reasonable amount of time just walking around with Axel, instead of allowing the man to continually make passes at him. However, in retrospect, he had also blatantly chosen to ignore their previous night's discussion about love, which resulted in him drinking his troubled mind away.

And that was all he remembered. The rest of the night before was completely blank. He would _really_ have to ask Axel later, in private, about what had happened. Axel's expression had been purposely vacant when he had spoken about Roxas's drunken night. In any other case, the red-head would have probably grinned and cracked a dirty joke of some sort, but instead, he had been uncharacteristically quiet and simple in his answer.

In any case, Roxas's musings had brought him back to the present time, where he now sat curled up in the corner of the back seat in Seifer's car, headphones covering his ears while his ipod lay silent. Axel was still engrossed in his DS and Hayner and Seifer were obviously not going to stop singing along to RENT tunes any time soon.

_They're giving me space. To think._ Roxas realized this with a start, glancing around at his friends again. Despite their obvious distractions, the couple up front still occasionally glanced back at him to make sure he was alright. And Axel continuously looked up from his game to just stare at the blond, appearing like he wanted to say something but, at the last second, deciding against it and looking away once more.

Taking in a shaky breath, the blond sighed and relaxed, uncurling and sitting up in his seat as he shoved his mp3 player back into his bag. "So. Who wants to play license plates?"

Hayner grinned, peering around his seat, "There's the Roxas we all know and love. Feeling better?"

"Much, thanks." Roxas grinned slightly, accepting the bottle of water Hayner offered and taking a sip to clear his throat.

"So what's this about license plates?" Axel snapped the DS shut and casually tugged the blond towards himself, draping his arm around his shoulders. Roxas didn't protest. "Are we doing it by alphabet or what?"

The blond glanced up at the older man to see an easy smile on his face. He seemed to be back to normal. Almost. "If that's what you want."

Seifer spoke up from the driver's seat, oblivious to the staring contest Axel and Roxas were in. "Alright, alphabet it is. Arkansas…"

The start of the game went unheeded to the pair. Axel dropped his voice to a low murmur. "How's the hangover?"

"Better." Roxas whispered in reply, leaning his head gently against the red-head's shoulder in hopes that the silent action would make an impression on the man. Axel only grinned.

"Good. Then, uh… can I stay at your house tonight?"

Roxas jerked abruptly out of Axel's hold, warmth gone. "What?!"

"Oh, oh, Colorado! Called it!"

* * *

The rest of the trip played out in exactly four hours and forty-three minutes, thanks to traffic. Axel knew, because he counted down every single minute in earnest. The license plate game had grown old dramatically fast, leaving the group to fend for themselves against boredom. Axel had picked up the DS again and Roxas ended up falling asleep on him, head slumped on his shoulder.

Axel hadn't minded, of course. Or, he mostly hadn't minded. The presence of the blond was troublesome for him. The fact that Roxas had forgotten his drunken tirade was a relief, of course, but when it also became obvious that the blond couldn't recall _anything_, Axel realized that he wasn't exactly willing to explain to the teen that he had ended up crawling into his lap and confessing about his uncertainty in his love for the red-head.

Axel had _confessed_ to him. In any other situation, that would at least set some things in place, but it had apparently only confused Roxas even more. Getting someone into bed with him had never been more difficult, especially since the red-head was still trying his best to maintain his sincere feelings for the boy to convince him that he didn't see Roxas just as another notch on his bedpost.

And now the boy was sleeping on him. _Again_. Axel sighed, idly capturing a wild Pidgey as he contemplated his situation. Reno had called him in the beginning of the trip to inform him that there had been a gas leak in their house the day before and now, he couldn't return home. Roxas had agreed to let him stay at his own place, but not without a good deal of protest, of course. It wouldn't be Roxas if he didn't add more tension between them.

But what of their floundering relationship? Hadn't Roxas agreed to go out with him? Axel had no idea where they stood now, but he hoped that some things could be cleared up later, at the blond's house. That was the plan, at least. He needed the blond to stop being so damn indecisive.

After what felt like an endless drive, Seifer finally pulled into the Mitsu household driveway. Ten minutes afterward, Seifer pulled out of the Mitsu household driveway, leaving Axel and Roxas alone on the pavement.

"They're not coming with us?"

"No." Roxas yawned sleepily, grabbing his bag and hauling it into the house. "He's going back to my Uncle's place. That's Hayner's house, after all."

Axel silently followed after the blond, slinging his own backpack over his shoulder. Roxas glanced at him as he led the way up to his room. "I'm gonna go take a shower, you, uh… make yourself at home, I guess." The blond waved absently at his room, then promptly stumbled off. Axel blinked, surprised that Roxas had suddenly decided to trust him in such a private area like his room, but he wasn't about to complain about it.

At least now, he finally had a chance to peek into Roxas's life.

Hayner and Seifer hadn't been exaggerating when they had described the room to be crammed full of "figurines, manga, dolls, and stuffed toys." It was quite… unbelievable. Axel turned in place, gaping. All four sides of the room had not been neglected in the least; there were hardly any blank spots on the walls. The side with the door boasted a mirror, two posters, and an immense wall scroll. The next wall had the closet, as well as a single shelf completely overflowing with books and knick-knacks. He even recognized some; one near the top was definitely Sailor Moon.

Next came the side with Roxas's bed, a window, and a computer table. Even here, plushies and figurines were scattered around. Then came… _the wall._ Here, a table and two more shelves were packed with a mind-boggling amount of anime loot. Axel hesitantly approached it, then noticed a large collection of things that were tastefully hidden behind a translucent scarf decorated with Japanese kanji. Curious, the red-head pulled the cover aside.

He had hit the mother load. He needed to only glance at one of the titles of the multiple DVD's and books to see that it was Roxas's form of the average male's set of porn magazines. "Dear god…"

In the complete silence of the room, Axel tugged out a few of the DVDs. Two were obviously hentai, a phrase Seifer had gleefully taught him. At least, if the half-naked, huge-chested girls on the front of the covers meant anything. The last movie, however, was obviously not the typical animated, heterosexual porn. Axel grinned excitedly, smoothing his fingers over the DVD case. There were two feminine looking males standing too close to each other to be considered straight. The title was what caught Axel's attention best, though.

"Sensitive Pornograph." He chuckled, setting the movies back and deciding to shuffle through the boy's stash of pornographic manga instead. "And you call _me_ a pervert. Shit, Roxas, you're worse than I am."

* * *

Roxas slowly made his way back to his room after a refreshing twenty minute shower. It had worked wonders, now that he had scrubbed away everything from the night before and cleared his mind. He felt better. He always did after long, hot showers. It had actually felt like longer then twenty minutes, though, by the way it had grown dark outside.

_The day's passed so quickly…_ He passed the staircase that led down to the first floor, where Roxas could actually see Axel's bags, which he had dumped by the couch in the living room. _Hell, not even today. These past three days… three weeks have passed quickly._

As he steadily walked along the long carpeted corridor, however, he faltered. He had also regained most of his sensibility and common sense during his appointment with the bathtub, and he quickly came to the painful realization that he had just left _Axel_, of all people,_ alone_. In his _room._ His room that few people ever saw, apart from Seifer, Hayner, Riku, Naminè, and Sora.

His breath caught in his throat. Many people often said that someone's room was an insight into the person's private life. And for Roxas, that was very applicable. He knew what his living area was like; covered in anime, manga, and other otaku-like memorabilia. It was _very_ personal. Although, knowing Axel…

"My yaoi." Roxas murmured with a distressed whisper, speeding up his walk. Of course, the perverted older man would be instantly attracted to the risqué items. It was only natural; the man was like a magnet for stuff like that. Sure enough, as soon as the blond stormed into the room, clad only in a pair of pants and a towel about his neck, he found Axel sprawled across his bed, nose buried in a book.

"I should have known you would sniff out my yaoi. Pervert." Roxas scowled, shutting the door behind him as he gave the red-head a glower. Axel looked up from _I Want to be Naughty…_ and waggled his fingers in a teasing greeting, a smirk stretching out his lips.

"Yeah, I'm _such_ a pervert, reading _your_ books, Roxas. It's terrible of me." He sniggered, watching as the boy, flushing, stomped across the room to sit at his computer table. Axel was surprised that Roxas hadn't even attempted to snatch the book back, "What, you're not going to make me stop reading? Yell at me for snooping?"

"What's the point?" The blond murmured, turning on his PC, "My attempts to stop you from doing things before hasn't worked, I can't imagine why it would now."

Axel fell silent at that and, with a sigh, turned back to the book as Roxas booted up his internet. For a while, they sat in comfortable silence, Axel reading the cartoon-like gay comic while the blond busied himself in checking cosplay sights for pictures of himself and Axel. It would have been a fairly easy way to relax, except…

_Ask him. Ask him._

Roxas pursed his lips, finding a picture of Axel as Sasuke just managed sneak a hand into Naruto/Roxas's shirt.

_What could you possibly have done last night that's made Axel so quiet and thoughtful?_

He found himself staring at the screen without actually seeing, too caught up in his thoughts.

_What could I have possibly done that made Axel looked so painfully blank when I asked?_

Finally, the nagging feeling in his gut got the better of him and he turned his swivel chair around to face the man on his bed. Axel didn't notice. Roxas spent the next fifteen seconds with his mouth opening and closing, wondering what to say, then eventually just sighed and dug an anxious hand into his hair. "So, uh, what exactly happened last night?"

"When you were drunk, you mean?" Axel snapped the manga shut, having just finished it. "I thought you would never ask."

Roxas released another soft sigh, fearing the worst. "Look, I know I get weird when I'm drunk-"

"It wasn't anything tragic, blondie." The red-head chuckled, then continued, knowing that Roxas wouldn't stop pestering him until he told him everything. So Axel decided to be blunt with it. "You insisted that we go up to the hotel's hot tub. I, unlike certain people whose name I won't mention, can actually hold my liquor, so I made sure you didn't drown. Then you crawled into my lap, apologized for 'sucking so much' and how you decided to pointedly ignore our previous night's conversation about going out. And then…"

Roxas raised an eyebrow as Axel faltered, "And then?"

"Then you decided to confess that you weren't sure if you loved me. And passed out shortly afterwards." Axel finished with a nonchalant shrug, sliding off the bed and moving to set the book he had been reading on the shelf while Roxas stared at him in shock. He determinedly didn't meet his gaze.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"I am such an idiot sometimes." Roxas whispered to himself, carding his hand even deeper into his spikes while the other man calmly returned to sit on the bed. "I'm sorry."

"Why apologize? It's not like you were lying." Axel replied evenly, relaxing on Roxas's bed again with a new book on his hand. He promptly flicked it open and began to read, allowing the blond some time to get his thoughts together. In all honestly, the red-head was torn. It had been so easy and clear-cut before. Roxas was cute, amusing, stubborn, and made the most delicious moaning noises when Axel stuck his hand down his pants. He liked him. And, as it turned out, he liked him a _lot._ That was that. No problems, just attraction.

But once Roxas had unearthed the bet behind their entire meeting, things had begun spiraling downward. And the added weight of love only complicated things. What had once been a mere whim of Axel's to meet and woo the blond had turned into a drama fest.

The red-head's lip curled slightly. As much as he respected Roxas, it was obvious that most of the drama was coming from the small, emotional blond. He just couldn't accept the situation. And, Axel blinked, from someone who read books that involved men falling in love with male mermaids, that was unbelievable. They had almost gotten through it, too, once they had spoken back in the hotel. But then Roxas had freaked out again and ruined everything. It was as if the boy lived to make things difficult.

When Roxas failed to say anything, Axel flicked the pages to a racy sex scene and lifted it up for the other boy to see. "We should try this position. If your bathtub is big enough."

Before Roxas could help himself, his old habits took over and he was standing up to storm over to Axel, "Give me that! You shouldn't read stuff like that!"

Axel allowed the blond a little reprieve from their serious discussion by acting like a bother again, as Roxas was used to. He smiled innocently, holding _Selfish Mr. Mermaid_ out of his reach, "You shouldn't either! This is strictly for people with dirty minds! Shame on you!"

"It-" Roxas grunted, leaning over Axel as he tried to snatch back the book, arms flailing, "It was a present!"

The red-head laughed, playfully smacking Roxas's hand with the book, then moving it away again, "From who? Your kindly uncle?"

A series of angry and rather uncouth words spilled from the younger boy's mouth as he continued to grapple with Axel. However, he seemed to have forgotten just quite who he had to deal with and before he knew it, a lanky arm was pulling him down onto the bed into the thin chest of an annoying red-head. Just as an extra laugh, Axel tossed the book onto the floor, leaving Roxas sprawled on top of him, looking furious. It was always much too easy to tease the smaller boy. His temper was such a weakness.

"For your information, it was a present from Naminè." Roxas muttered and then attempted to slide off Axel, only to find that the red-head had already found the time to tuck his other arm about his waist, pinning him there. To his surprise, Axel was no longer smiling, but regarding him with a contemplative air. "W-what?"

Axel proceeded to say the four dreaded words that Roxas did not want to hear.

"We need to talk."

Roxas drew in a shuddering breath, curling his arms up beneath his chin. He didn't want to talk. He didn't want to discuss his _feelings_. Then again, at one point, he hadn't wanted Axel's attention and his arms around his waist, but he was allowing it now.

"You can't run away from this forever, as much as you want to. If you want this to be simple, then you have to tell me what you want." Axel said with a pout, seeing the mixed expressions on Roxas's face; hesitation, pain, discomfort, confusion.

Roxas groaned, burying his face in his hands. "I don't want to talk about this."

"I'm not letting you go until we get something out of this mess, Rox. Enough is enough. What do you want?"

"I don't know what I want anymore." Roxas began slowly, resigning himself to his fate. Axel was right. He couldn't run from it anymore. Especially now that the other man had cornered him, so to speak. "I thought I did, before. Before, it had been easy. I wanted to get rid of you. I didn't know who you were, and you weren't like anyone I had ever met before."

"Do you still feel like that? Like you want to get rid of me?"

Roxas raised his head, "Hmph. What do you think?"

"I would hope not." Axel grinned slightly.

"The week after I met you was ridiculous. I thought, damn, was that just sexual harassment? It couldn't be. There was no way I would have enjoyed something like that so much if it was sexual harassment. I almost wanted to meet you again and just find out what the hell your deal was. And then when I did, I was torn. I didn't know what I was doing, running after a guy who I had just randomly met in the middle of the night and… well, yeah."

At Axel's chuckles, the blond continued, "If you can't tell, I've thought a lot about this."

"Oh, I've noticed." The red-head idly rubbed at the skin just above the boy's hips.

"But now, now that I've found that I actually like having you around, that you can turn me into freaking piles of helpless goo, and that you've actually taken a step further to say that you _love_ me…" The blond let his head sink back down again. "I just don't know."

Axel released such a heavy sigh that it made Roxas's hair flutter faintly. "I can't believe that after all this damn time, you still don't know what you want, Roxas."

Without warning, the red-head sat up, pulling the smaller boy up with him. Roxas's arms fell as he found himself seated now in Axel's lap. In the darkened room, Axel eyed the distressed look on the boy's face that was only faintly lit with the glow from the nearby computer monitor. "You can't expect me to believe that."

"But I really-"

"I've already put what we have in simple terms. You can either accept this or just forget about it." Axel leaned forward to feather his lips over the blond's forehead, "I don't like waiting."

Roxas remained silent, shivering as Axel continued to speak.

"I know we met under unorthodox ways. I know that being with a guy isn't exactly normal for you, either. Hell, everything about this is fucked up. I _know_." The red-head rested his chin briefly on Roxas's shoulder, curling his arms even tighter about the boy's waist, "But I've been sincere since the start. I went to that damn Seven-Eleven to finally meet you, to win you over, because I've always had my eye on you. It may not have been particularly romantic, but I've been trying my best to prove to you that you mean a lot more to me than you think."

"I know that. I know." Roxas breathed out, biting his lip as he listened to Axel. "I'm not questioning you anymore. It's me. I just…"

With a soft rustle of clothes, Axel moved his head to start planting light kisses on Roxas's neck. "You don't know. There's something holding you back."

_Bingo._ The blond swallowed. He didn't fear Axel hurting him. It wasn't an issue of insecurity or age or even gender at this point. Roxas had already forgiven him for the slurpee incident and accepted Axel's initial greeting at his job. He enjoyed the red-head's touch, welcomed his touches, thrived in his presence.

But while Axel loved him, did Roxas love him back?

…. There was the problem. The guilt. The one thing that had been nagging at him the entire three weeks. What did the red-head mean to him, exactly? And until he figured it out, his mind wouldn't rest. The fact that it was such a cheesy, stupid, idiotic, romantic, girly reason only made matters worse.

Roxas remained still as he felt lips warm his skin, then shuddered and smiled weakly, "I'm not good at this serious talk."

"I'm just trying to help." Even Axel managed to relax slightly, feeling some of the stiffness leave Roxas's body. He scooted up to start kissing the blond's ear, then his cheek. When he finally hovered mere hair's widths away from Roxas's lips, though, he paused.

"Kiss me." He whispered. If he couldn't talk Roxas into it, he would do it physically. To his surprise, Roxas hesitated, and then promptly pushed him away.

"I can't. Just… stop. Please."

Axel's voice grew somber and he released the smaller boy from his grasp, "So this is your answer. Now that we've finally gotten down to this being serious, now that this isn't just a handjob there, a blowjob there, now that I actually want to _be_ with you, you've gotten scared and don't even have the guts to tell me to go to hell. It's simple, Roxas! Do you want me or not? Yes or no?"

How could Roxas just answer that? Yes, he wanted Axel. Yes, he wanted to have the red-head touch him and kiss him again. But not while Axel loved him and Roxas didn't. "I… I don't… yes, but I can't-"

Roxas's soft pleas of disagreement fell on angry ears. Axel had had enough. His patience was gone. The blond was driving him insane. He wanted him, he _needed_ Roxas at this point, and yet the idiot was so stubborn, naïve, and indecisive that his libido was going to shrivel up. Gently, he pushed Roxas off of himself and stood,

"Fine. I'm gonna go sleep on the couch."

In a matter of seconds, Axel had stormed out of the room and Roxas was left to stare at the closed door in his dark room, shocked to the core, alone to think about what he wanted.

* * *

Axel, scowling and looking ruffled, irritably unfolded the couch in Roxas's living room, tugging out the blankets he had used last time. Mickey had briefly wandered in with a cautious mewl, but seeing the red-head's furious face, he had just was quickly scampered away.

_Why is he doing this? Can't he just see that I love him? What the hell is his problem?_

Roxas punched his pillow angrily, trying his best to bring his thoughts together.

_Why am I making this so difficult? Axel's right, the answer's right there, I just need to decide. Do I want Axel? Or not?_

Axel tugged his shirt and pants off, settling into the make-shift bed he had made. It wasn't his fault that he hadn't gotten laid in ages, and that when he was denied the sex he wanted by a blond moron who couldn't make a decision to save his life, Axel got _grumpy_. Love was so troublesome. He couldn't even just go out and get sex, he only wanted _Roxas_. Who was being difficult.

_I love him. I can't believe I fucking love him. He's a complete idiot. So blond. He's always so inflexible, pushing me away, being a prick, when I know he always liked the attention I gave him. God, he makes me so horny…_

Roxas threw his damp towel into the corner of his room, letting out a growl of frustration.

_He's so fucking stupid! Loving me… why the hell did he have to go and say that? He's so immature and needy! This whole time, he's just been wanting to take my pants off, and now he expects me to just date him like any regular couple? Like hell! Just because he can always actually get his damn way with me… just because he's so irresistible…_

"Idiot…" Axel murmured, throwing his arm over his eyes.

_And yet Roxas is _my_ blond. He's _my _stubborn idiot. I may have always dominated him, but he was just letting me do that. He's stronger than he looks. And I can never control myself around him. I can't just… _I love him.

"Jerk…" Roxas stood and began pacing his room, noting that it was just past 8:00 PM.

_But I can never resist him. He's always so stupid, but he's always been there for me. He's perverted, but gentle…_

The blond found himself thinking back on Axel as he absently picked at the waistband of his pants. How the red-head had actually agreed to go to Otakon, how he had driven him home from work, how he had looked after him while the blond had been drunk. Axel had been the one to throw him the occasional warm glance when he thought Roxas wasn't looking. Axel had been the one to faithfully accept him for what he was, otaku-dom and all. He had been the first one to suggest something more, to assert that he didn't see Roxas just as a one-night stand.

Axel had been the one who had set his skin on fire, who had planted soft tender kisses along his neck, who had…

Before he knew it, Roxas was running his hands through his hair again and cursing himself softly. "God, I'm such an overdramatic uke."

Axel had already dozed off by the time Roxas had settled his thoughts. It was completely dark in the living room and, unlike the blond, he hadn't slept on the ride home and the mental exhaustion hit home after he tiredly decided that he would leave the next morning as soon as he woke up, thinking that giving Roxas some space would be a good idea. He wasn't in the mood to force himself on the blond, anyway. Not while the idiot didn't know what he wanted; he wanted Roxas to want him back. It had been alright before, just teasing him about it, but love had made him quite selfish and greedy. He wasn't afraid to admit it.

_I'm a bastard._

That had been his last thought before sleep overtook him.

And his first thought, shortly afterward, was "_Why is a shirtless Roxas getting under the blankets with me?"

* * *

  
_

Roxas had resolutely tip-toed down the stairs to the living room after he had decided that, yes, he wanted Axel and yes, he was falling for the jerk-off, and yes, he was going to go fix the problem now while he was still firm on the idea.

He made his way around the dark room with ease, having traveled down before when he had been sneaking into the kitchen for a midnight snack. In the faint moonlight, he made out the long lump on the unfolding couch; Axel. Taking a deep breath, Roxas silently watched Axel's chest rise and fall a moment before letting emotions take over. Before he knew what he was doing, his body was moving and sliding underneath the single blanket Axel had covered himself with.

The hush in the room was practically deafening. The crackles the blanket made and the groans of the couch as it took on Roxas's weight felt ten times louder in the blond's ear. That feeling doubled when Roxas had finally reached Axel and lay down next to him, because as soon as he had settled down with a sigh, the red-head's eyes slid open slowly, the jade of his irises glowing, even in the dark.

The two stared at each other in the silence, Axel looking confused at first. Roxas watched, though, as comprehension dawned in his green orbs. Roxas didn't dare to break the quiet lull of the room, and Axel seemed to understand.

_Have you changed your mind? _He asked wordlessly, a barely-there smile gracing his lips. In answer, Roxas leaned in and shyly spread a warm hand over Axel's cheek, staring at him. Axel could only breathe, taking in the sight of the blond laying across from him, his heart in his eyes. He had come to _him_.

"God, finally." Axel finally whispered, shattering the silence, as well as the moment. He reached out a slender hand and tucked it around the back of Roxas's head as he rolled over onto the blond, tucking his legs around the boy's waist while using his free hand to keep himself up as he dipped down to crush his lips into Roxas's.

It had been _ages_. Or, at least, it felt like ages, since they had last done anything. The rave at Otakon. That had been three days ago, but who was counting?

Roxas joined in the kiss eagerly, eyes flickering shut as he curled his arms around Axel's shoulders to pull him closer. Their lips slid softly against each other, making quiet smacking and sucking noises as Axel pushed in deeper, opening his mouth to allow his tongue to slide along the seam of his blond's lips. As they occasionally parted to readjust their angle, Axel murmured, "I love you" repeatedly, making goosebumps stand up on Roxas's skin at the husky tone the red-head spoke in.

While concentrating on breathing through his nose, Roxas shivered, thanking fate for allowing both himself and Axel to be shirtless. He could feel the red-head's body heat on his skin and it was a comforting feeling. He moaned slightly as he felt Axel's heated tongue explore his mouth, sliding and probing. At the same time, the older man's hand gently tugged at his hair, sending small sparks of dulled pain along his skull that Roxas actually welcomed. The blond had a lot of sexual tension to get rid of, especially after such a long, strenuous day, as well as three days of dealing with the horny Axel.

Finally, Roxas could just give in, like he almost had back at the rave. Except now the two of them were alone. Very much so.

Roxas gasped sharply as Axel nibbled on his bottom lip, dragging him back to reality. His eyes glittered mischievously before he moved on to leave wet kisses along Roxas's jawbone, finally reaching the blond's sensitive ear, which he mercilessly attacked with bites and licks, abusing the skin. Roxas jerked his hips briefly, growing hot. He moaned, drawing out a chuckle from Axel.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do this…" The red-head put all his weight onto one arm and used the other to slide a hand down Roxas's chest to play with a nipple as he broke the silence.

"Nn…" Roxas whined out, eyes already glazed snapping out. "God… get on with it…"

Axel made a purring sound, grazing his teeth along the blond's neck, then licking his way back up. "I thought you liked foreplay."

Roxas meaningfully jerked his hips upward into Axel's, forcing friction between their obvious erections. "Haven't we had enough foreplay already from these, _ah_, past few days?"

Making a thoughtful noise, Axel hummed in agreement, pushing the blond back into a heated kiss. Roxas peeked his tongue out this time, engaging in a grappling session with the red-head's own wet muscle. Just as quickly, though, Axel pulled away and took his kisses south, sliding his lips along Roxas's quivering chest to his bellybutton, which he nipped teasingly, then shifting even father down.

It was all going so slowly, so sensually. It was amazing, yes, but… Roxas tried to say something, _anything_ to encourage the man onward, but it was unnecessary. Axel was eager enough himself, he needed no bidding.

His fingers carefully looped around the waistband of the blond's pajama pants, and with painstaking slowness, he pulled the garment down. Roxas groaned breathlessly at the sensation of cotton rubbing against his hardened cock. He gripped Axel's hair with one hand while the other clenched into the cover of the couch they were lying on. And then, everything went still. He could hear his own raspy breath, and just beyond his waist were the soft pantings of Axel. But what was he...

The blond suddenly blushed with a shiver. Axel had touched him in so many inappropriate ways before, and yet the way that the red-head was crouched over his cock with a look of desire was almost embarrassing. The feeling passed quickly enough, however, as Axel unabashedly leaned forward to gently take the moist tip of his erection into his mouth, giving it a soft suck. Roxas quietly cried out at the sensation, his grasp in Axel's hair tightening. "Oh g-god…" He stuttered, feeling like a virgin for reacting so strongly so soon.

Axel seemed to have approved, despite Roxas's awkwardness. He carefully pulled Roxas's legs over his shoulders and continued sucking at the organ, his long hair tickling the inside of the blond's thighs. Roxas felt the moment become almost surreal, but rational thought was already leaking out of his head and all he could manage was trying to keep his moans and whimpers down to a whimper.

When Axel picked up the pace, head bobbing up and down, Roxas's attempts weakened and shameless cries of pleasure began falling from his kiss-bruised lips. Determined to make the blond reach his peak, Axel hollowed out his lips and sucked harder, harder… until he was left with a quivering blond before him and a mouthful of cum in his mouth. Swallowing and swiping his tongue over his lips, Axel crawled back up Roxas's body, looking pleased while the blond himself lay back on the couch, trying to catch his breath.

"That's a little better than your typical yaoi, I think." Axel said huskily, licking his lips again. Roxas tried to suck in air but the sight of the sweaty red-head before him, as well as the orgasm, left him at a loss for words. Instead, he merely groaned and tugged the man into another kiss, moving his lips hard against Axel's. It was so much easier than attempting to make conversation. The red-head was obviously more than happy to comply, but as soon as he moved in closer to the younger boy, his own erection bumped innocently into Roxas's groin to remind him that they weren't done.

"Would you prefer me…" Roxas suddenly panted out, breaking off the lip-lock. "To beg and whimper for you to fuck me, or would you rather I do it forcefully?"

Axel blinked, then laughed, brushing away some sweat-dampened hair from Roxas's forehead, "Surprise me."

"Mm." Through half-shut eyes, the blond tugged the other man forward until his lips hovered just by his ear, and, in a lust-filled whisper, he dropped the two words Axel most wanted to hear.

"Fuck me."

And damn if the blond didn't manage to make the short sentence sound like the most erotic thing Axel had ever heard. "Gladly." he purred in response, his voice low and seductive.

Still slightly high from his first peak, but already getting hard just from the thought of what was about to happen next, Roxas helped Axel eagerly tug off the last article of clothing that separated them and they pounced on each other seconds afterward. Roxas tugged his arms back around the red-head's neck for leverage while Axel suddenly looked aghast.

"Lube."

"Nrgh?" Roxas made a questioning noise, not understanding at first. "What?"

"Lube! We need… oh god…" Axel sat up, the blond still clinging to him as he looked around. The heated atmosphere was dying quickly, which horrified the red-head even more. "I can't just take you dry, you would…"

"Lube? Why?" Roxas repeated, blinking back into a better thinking mode as he met Axel's worried look. "Oh. As in to…"

"Yeah. As in, so I can actually fuck you like you want me to without me making it unpleasant."

"Oh."

Roxas recalled dimly that his mother had always kept a bottle of hand lotion _somewhere_ or other in the living room. Stumbling off of the couch and away from Axel's comforting body warmth with an unhappy grunt, he hobbled about the room a moment before finally reaching the small coffee table. He smoothed his hands over it, eyes darting about to catch a glimpse of the small bottle, but the table was bereft of anything. "Shit."

Axel appeared behind him, tucking his arms about the smaller boy's waist while nibbling thoughtfully on his ear. "Can't find it, huh?"

"No." Roxas looked in shock at the table, "Lotion's gone."

He suddenly gasped as Axel pressed his member against his back, but the red-head was still teasing. "Do you have anything else that could help us in this endeavor?"

"I think I might have some in room. C'mon." And, just like that, Roxas twisted around to grab Axel's hand and began dragging him up to his room. Axel almost laughed. The sight of the two of them, naked as the day they were born, and sporting raging hard-ons to boot, scurrying through a house in search of lube…

"Unbelievable." The red-head murmured under his breath, smiling at the leading blond fondly.

The best part was that even butt-naked and somewhat distressed, Roxas still looked adorable and delicious enough for Axel to at least have something to look at while he was being led upstairs.

As soon as they reached Roxas's room, the boy dove for his bedside table, rooting through the piles of junk he had stored there. Finally, with a cry of triumph, he pulled out a container of …

"Is that cotton-candy flavored lube?"

Roxas turned pink and scowled, "It was a gift from Naminè. More of a joke, really."

"This Naminè of yours must really love bringing out the gay in you." Axel grinned, taking the lube as he pushed the blond down onto the bed, where they had been arguing not too long ago.

"Ah… she, uh, she…." Roxas stuttered, trying to finish his sentence as Axel hungrily attacked his lips. He had to admit, the keen way the red-head was managed to open the bottle and squeeze some into his palm with only one hand was impressive.

"Yes?" Axel raised an eyebrow questioningly as he lathered the lotion over his fingers, then carefully began trailing the gooey mess along Roxas's body. The brief pause in the sex hadn't deprived them of anything, the two of them were already hot and bothered all over again.

"She…" Of course, how the hell did Axel expect Roxas to reply when the man was slipping a finger between his legs to probe at the tight ring of muscle hidden there? "Oh god."

"Fascinating." Axel breathed out, smiling gratefully as Roxas, hoping to urge the red-head on, pulled his own legs back up onto the older man's shoulders. Meanwhile, Axel busied himself with calmly pushing his finger inside the blond, feeling the tight heat close in around the digit.

Roxas gasped harshly, eyes bulging as he writhed under Axel's hand, the strange sensation sending hot shocks of electricity along his spine. Suddenly, everything he had ever read and watched from his hentai and yaoi sources made absolute perfect sense.

"Keep going…" He said desperately, and Axel complied without hesitation, adding a second finger while he continued to thrust in and out of the blond's hole, stretching the sensitive skin while getting the cotton-candy lube everywhere. Roxas only groaned, his back arching from the torture and pleasure. By the time a third finger had been added, the blond no longer formed full words, but was simply groaning and panting helplessly, a hand loosely stroking at his own erection.

Axel almost found himself moaning at the sight of the ravaged Roxas. He had imagined this scene so many times before, but the reality, as he had predicted, was so much better. The view of a sweat-covered, panting, groaning, wriggling, stroking Roxas was orgasmic. Suddenly, the fingers weren't enough for either of the boys. Axel pulled out with a slick squishing noise that Roxas whimpered at. He suddenly missed the feeling of penetration, but as he sat up, he was quickly entranced, watching Axel grab the pale blue lube and start slathering it onto his own cock.

"Hurry…" Roxas pushed his heels encouragingly into Axel's back, breathing heavily as he forced his eyes to stay open. "Oh god, put it in already."

For a split second, Axel toyed with the idea of asking the smaller boy if he was ready, but by the way that Roxas was staring at him with a look of impatience and lust and _want_… Axel decided against it, swallowing the built-up salivation and turning his attention back to the luscious task at hand. He brought the tip of his cock gently to the stretched entrance, rubbing slightly as Roxas quivered, then, without warning, Axel pushed in, feeling the tight muscles close around his member as, slowly, making sure that Roxas felt every inch, he sunk into the blond.

"Ahh!"

When he felt his whole length enveloped in firm heat, Roxas let out a long mewl, eyes wide and staring at the ceiling as he tried to relax. Axel murmured comforting words, forcing himself to keep still for the blond's sake, even though the rest of his tensed body was roaring for him to move with all haste. Still, the feeling of Roxas wrapped so closely around him and the sensation of being buried inside the blond were enough to make Axel's entire body shudder from pleasure.

Roxas scrambled to curl his hands around Axel's back as the man leaned over him, looking worried.

"You ok?" He whispered, hair hanging loosely about his face.

Roxas panted, "Fine. Just… go. Move. I can't sit still like this."

With a deep breath, Axel nodded, pressing his lips to Roxas's as he gently shifted his hips, pulling his cock out until just the tip still rested inside, then he slammed back in again. Roxas shook at the impact, but the moan that accompanied the quiver held pleasure in it. And, by the way that Roxas had sunk his fingernails into his bare back,

Axel could only assume that he had also hit the blond's prostate dead on.

Seeing no more reasons to wait, the red-head began an ascending rhythm, going faster and faster as he propped himself up, one arm by Roxas's head while his other hand descended to stroke the other to his peak. Their cries and moans mixed together until neither knew just who was making each noise. Axel had broken the kiss, needing breath to keep pounding into the blond, who was so lost in the excitement that he was mindlessly raking his nails down Axel's back, leaving red streaks.

Finally, their mingled pants and moans grew louder. Axel felt himself coming close to the edge.

"Axel!" Roxas choked out, stiffening as he came hard. Axel opened his eyes then, seeing the strained look of pleasure on the other man's face, which promptly triggered his own climax. Gasping out a garbled version of Roxas's name, he steadily collapsed onto the blond and the two lay in quiet, cooling off and catching their breath.

Roxas spoke first. "I can't believe it."

"What?" Axel squeezed Roxas's hip briefly in warning as he pulled out and then moved to lie down beside the blond. Roxas sighed shakily in response, but then, completely ignorant of the messy, sticky white substance that was splattered on both of them, he rolled over to curl into Axel's side.

"You. Me. Sex. Oh my god."

"Uh huh." Axel was too tired to even make fun of Roxas.

It hadn't been the most imaginative of sex, Axel had to admit. He could have taken the blond in a series of other more… creative ways, but it had been their first time. And it was good enough, for now. Maybe next time, he would actually take a scene from one of Roxas's silly mangas and play with that one instead. Maybe he'd even get his newly acquired yaoi paddle into play.

God, it had been messy and new, but still amazing. Axel's long record of no sex had finally been broken. The man could have come again just from happiness. He grinned. There had been way too much talking and not _nearly_ enough sex before. But it had all worked out in the end, so Axel wasn't going to complain about it.

"So what was holding you back? Did you figure it out?" Axel abruptly murmured, pulling the worn out blond towards himself with a content sigh. Roxas only smiled sheepishly, cuddling into the lanky man.

"Yeah. It's out of the way now, obviously."

"What was it?"

Roxas shut his eyes sleepily, "Nothing important."

And for a moment, it seemed that Axel was about to just accept that answer and drift off to sleep. However, just as Roxas felt the world fade out to accept in slumber, he heard the red-head laugh faintly.

"I love you too. Dumbass."


	10. The End

Three years later and now I am finally finishing this fanfic. It doesn't matter to me if 1 or 100 people read this chapter, if no one reviews, if this just slips into the archives of without a sound. I'm extremely grateful to every single one of my readers. You have stuck with me for ages, you have watched me grow from this innocent little one-shot to multi-chapter stories. You helped me develop as a writer, as a person. You gave me a chance. Thank you, guys. Every single one of you. I've read all of your reviews, the messages, the fanart, everything. And i'm so happy that I could reach so many people. I'm sorry it took me so long to finish this fic, as well as the rest, which will also be worked on. I hope that whoever takes the time to come back and read this final chapter will find closure and satisfaction, since good lord, I couldn't help putting in smut.

So in short. Thank you. Just. _Thank you._

Onto the last chapter. It's been a long time coming.

* * *

"_Girls at Seven-Eleven stay up all night (Twenty-four hours a day.)"_

It was his last shift at Seven-Eleven. His things were packed, driving instructions to Radiant Garden University all printed out. Come 6:00 AM, he would be clocking out for the final time to go start his freshman year, leaving memories of his summer vacation behind him.

That being said, he still had one small thing left to do. Leaning back in his seat, the young blond sighed, taping a pencil briefly against his pursed lips before pushing up against the counter to fill in a short essay answer. The scratching on paper mingled wonderfully with the radio and the hum of the refrigerators, making him feel productive. Almost.

"The most important theme is the book's exploration of the moral nature of human beings, and their capacity for something, I don't know, yaddayadda, themes and motifs, who gives a shit, Harper Lee is ridiculous, I hate my professor for assigning this."

_Almost_. He sighed, chewing on his lip and starting to erase. But not quite.

Roxas still needed to finish his _To Kill a Mockingbird_ homework.

"_I said, girls at Seven-Eleven stay up all night. (Seven whole days a week.)"_

"And I could get a discount." He mumbled distractedly to himself, singing along without much thought, glancing from the worksheet to the book amidst the things he had grown to know very well over the past few weeks. The packets of cigarettes were still amassed around him (105 now, he counted). The small shelves beneath the counter had managed to amass even more useless paraphernalia throughout the month, and the slurpee machine behind the register was still out of order, silent and smug with memories.

Some things had changed. Others had definitely stayed exactly as they were. Roxas most certainly did not belong to the latter group, if his summer-time activities were proof of anything.

The blond idly reached out to turn off the radio, silencing the music, then completely buried his nose in the novel, determined to finish the worksheet before his shift was up.

He tried again. "-of the moral nature of human beings, and their capacity for benevolence, whereas the idiosyncratic-"

Was this English? This couldn't be English. This was obviously another language used only be academic writers who hated everyone.

The door jingled open, bringing in the summer breeze, and the smell of cigarettes. Roxas's pencil shuddered to a halt again, this time out of annoyance. Good lord. It wasn't as if there was a blatant sign on the door that said "No Smoking" or anything. But it was understandable; Roxas knew how difficult it was to read whilst drunk or high. Shoving his abused pencil in-between his teeth, he blindly fished around for the ash tray beneath the counter.

"Listen, you can't smoke in here." He said loudly, fingers finally closing over the small plastic bowl. No sooner had he slammed it down and attempted to go back to his work, slim fingers were pressing a cigarette into his offered tray and pushing forward a pack of lighters (not on sale), condoms (ribbed, for her pleasure), and twinkies. With strawberry filling.

"Ring that up for me, will you, babe?"

Roxas glanced up from his book with an unamused eyebrow raise to see, of all people, Axel cheerily grinning at him, clutching his motorcycle helmet and looking just as cocky and prick-like as he had that fateful 2:00 AM meeting so long ago.

"I don't think I will." Roxas replied dismissively, hardly batting an eyelash at the man's sudden appearance before turning back to _Mockingbird _to hide the uncontrollable grin he always got around the other these days. "No smoking and no fake gingers allowed."

Axel squawked in protest, setting down his prized helmet onto the counter with a thud. "_Ginger? _Listen, blondie, the color on the box said _cherry red_ and I'll have you know that that is a completely different color from _ginger_, fake or not."

Of course, Roxas was teasing. Of course, Roxas was already silently hating all of the butterflies that had erupted in his stomach. Ever since he had admitted his feelings, ever since he had started completely appreciating Axel and how the other treated him, he couldn't ever keep up his annoyed moods up for long.

Not when he wanted to jump over the counter and crawl into Axel's pants.

He shoved aside his book with a snort. "Shut up and kiss me, will you?"

The older red-head obliged with a smile, slipping his fingers under Roxas's chin to gently tug his face closer and plant a soft kiss on his lips. Roxas grinned into the gesture, even if he would not admit that the delightfully tender manner in which Axel had slipped his fingers into his hair made his heart melt. He didn't exactly want to talk about how happy it made him that Axel had shown up and had even bothered to visit him on his last shift. Axel's ego was big enough as is.

That being said, he still couldn't stop himself from leaning over the counter to tuck his arms around Axel's neck and deepen the kiss with a chuckle, tenderly moving his mouth against the other man's. It was hard to resist indulging in the man's warmth, his scent, his very presence. It was hard to resist Axel at all, honestly. And that included keeping his hands off of him.

They had seen each other only two days beforehand: Axel had dragged Roxas out to dinner, insisting on a "real" date before college. A week had passed since he had even confessed that he loved Axel. In his defense, Roxas liked to think he had already made enough progress in terms of emotions and feelings towards the other to say that he was going a good job as a boyfriend, but everything leading up to the confession had been such a stressing ordeal that he had even called Naminè as soon as Axel had left the next morning.

"Naminè. Naminè, I fell in love with that guy I told you about. The rapist at my job. I told him I loved him last night. What do I do?"

Of course, he had had to deal with a moment of gleeful laughter before finally getting a response.

"Well, that's wonderful! Why are you so nervous about it?"

"I haven't been in love with anyone… since you. What if I can't be in a relationship with a guy? What if I mess up?"

Naminè easily cut in before the blond got even further into hysterics. "Roxas, you'll be fine. Whatever happens, I know you'll make the right decision. You know why?"

"Because I'll have you to give me advice?"

"Because you've been in love with Axel from the very beginning."

Roxas had to think a moment, shocked into silence, then frowned. "… There is no way you knew that."

"Well, that and pictures of you two from Otakon have started popping up on 4chan and you just look _so cute_."

Girl never missed a thing, did she? Still, the fact remained. Roxas had probably been doomed to end up with Axel from the start.

The Seven-Eleven employee now pulled away, feeling Axel's hand slide down his cheek before leaving his personal space altogether. With a small laugh at the lingering warmth, he began ringing the other up, barely even hearing the small beeps of the scanner, too distracted by the warmth swelling in his chest. Damnit. He was such a sap.

"How are you?" Axel asked softly, smiling in a way that showed that he suspected how Roxas was feeling. He leaned against the counter, watching his blond carefully while his fingers traced over the curve of his motorcycle helmet.

"Tired. I've still got about four more hours left here. What're you here for?" Shoving the three items back towards the red-head, Roxas waved off his preferred bill of cash and paid for the condoms, lighters, and twinkies himself. "Aside from this."

"Oh, you mean, aside from Demyx, Zexion, and Larxene sending me off for this shit to give me a reason to see you?" Axel replied airily, grabbing the three items and shoving them into his upturned helmet. It was blissfully late and quiet; the chances of someone else showing up were slim at this dead time of night. Roxas let himself relax. And with relaxing came the inevitable:

Oh, there it was, he was smiling again. Damnit. Roxas propped his elbows up on the counter, struggling to keep the grin off his lips, "Yeah, aside from that."

Axel let the beat of a second tick by, grinning at the blond, then shrugged and leaned in closer to press their noses together.

"I missed you."

Admittedly, Roxas had missed Axel as well, but he could at least acknowledge that they were acting like love-sick fools. Only a month ago, he would have hated this entire encounter, but with this whole troublesome idea of love now in the picture, a variety of other options had opened up. Like being pleased with Axel's softly spoken words. He shook his head with a snort, inadvertently prolonging their affection with an eskimo kiss. "We just had dinner a few nights ago."

"Right. Yes. And after that, I think I had more than enough time to start missing you again, cutie."

"You are being disgusting." Roxas said flatly, though still looking pleased, "Is that all you came to do? Because I have this homework I need to do and I _really_ shouldn't be getting distracted by every red-head with a motorcycle that strolls in."

Axel's eyebrows rose at the sudden teasing, "Oh? I'm sorry, how many other red-heads have strolled in here before me?"

"Tons. So many. They just kept coming in. Droves of them. All these hot guys with motorcycles. Really, Axel, your style's kinda getting old."

"Mm. I'll have to switch it up, then, you're right, I don't wanna be boring." Axel hummed, eyes narrowing slightly in a predatory sort of amusement. "Though, tell me, did they all do this when they came in?"

With a smooth motion, Axel was reaching out to drag his fingers through Roxas's hair, finding a firm hold in the blond tufts that helped him drag Roxas forward until he could latch his teeth into the tanned flesh of his neck, nibbling and sucking heatedly. Roxas's eyes immediately glazed over and he swallowed hard, hands gripping the edge of the counter for balance.

Cheating. That was cheating. Goddamnit.

"Y-yeah," He stuttered, wincing at how he was already fumbling with his words. Axel's presence still had some powerful sort of effect like that, "Been there, done that."

"Shame." Axel didn't sound deterred as he gave Roxas's neck one last lick then moved up to start molesting his ear, purring into it, "What about this?"

Roxas hated how easily Axel could switch from cute to hot, from adoring to lustful. He hated that he had this much control over him. At the drop of a hat, Axel could have easily had him panting and moaning under his touch. Which, if the red-head kept it up, seemed very likely to happen. At least his groin and obvious discomfort was hidden from view. Even if his face, which had already become colored with a flush, was evidence enough of Axel's many effects on him.

He shivered, angling his head to give Axel better access to his ear, "You're late to that party, too. Old news."

Warm breath skittered over the wet, abused skin. Axel thoughtfully scraped his teeth down the outer shell, then nipped at Roxas's earlobe. At the same time, his gaze slowly slid around the blond in his grasp to the slushie machine behind him. He sighed, sending more heated air into Roxas's air and making him shiver.

"Shame the slurpee thing's broken. Could've relived old memories."

Roxas chuckled, rolling his eyes, "Yeah. This _other_ ginge came by a few weeks ago and broke it."

"Man, what an asshole." With a tut and a grin, Axel slowed his pace, fingers lazily combing through Roxas's spikes with his lips tracing along his jawline.

"Tried to stick his hands down my pants and everything." Roxas added, extending his neck to give Axel more room to maneuver.

It was impossible not to relax under such comforting touches, though. Even with an entire counter between them, Axel was making this sort of thing look all too easy. Child's play, really, to make Roxas's breath catch in his throat, his hands to shake, and his adrenaline to start pumping through his entire body a mile a minute. It was these sorts of things that often ended with Roxas doing something ridiculously moronic and cringe-worthy in retrospect. Like saying "I love you."

Or like moaning out some same words into the darkness of a bedroom, wrapped in sweat and emotion.

The vibration of laughter running along his cheeks brought Roxas back to attention. Axel was suddenly very occupied in planting tender kisses along every surface on the blond's face, except for his lips.

"Tried? I was under the impression that he succeeded."

Roxas shut his eyes as Axel traced more affection over the lids. "Well, yes. More importantly, though, he left without paying the full amount."

It was an off-hand sort of comment. Roxas just slid it in for amusement, remembering that five dollars definitely hadn't been enough for a pack of twinkies, cigarettes, and condoms. Nothing big, he had paid for the difference himself at the time, too distracted by the sexual events of the evening anyway. Unimportant in the long run.

Apparently, Axel did not share his sentiments.

"Wait. Wait, what?"

And there went the mood. Evaporated on contact. The distinct wall of counter was suddenly back and Axel was staring directly at him, brow furrowed.

"I gave you five bucks then, how did that possibly not cover everything?"

The blond sighed, releasing a breath of heated and mildly aroused tension from his chest until he felt empty. Damn him. Axel probably didn't even realize the full extent of just how much he drove his boyfriend up the wall with his tendency to switch gears so quickly. One second, he was horny. The next, he was the epitome of concern and sobriety. Roxas couldn't keep up.

With a shrug, the Seven-Eleven worker nonchalantly rubbed at his cheek to dispel some of the warmth while Axel allowed his outrage to distract him. The other man didn't have to know about how much he had wound Roxas up. Thank god for the counters of censorship. "Twinkies are expensive these days, Axel."

The look of actual appall on Axel's face created the impression that made him look as if all of his favorite toys had been taken away and promptly burned. "So that whole time I was trying to be cool, the whole 'phone number on the dollar bill' thing… I actually looked like an asshole who didn't even pay? I _owe_ you?"

It was difficult not to smile, despite Axel's serious tone. "I… well, yeah. That's about right."

"I shouldn't have reminded you about the slurpee thing. This is payback, isn't it? You've been waiting all summer for this." No time like the present to jump to conclusions. If Roxas didn't know any better, he would have bristled as the red-head's accusatory gestures and scowl. As it so happened, though, he simply smiled.

"Don't be ridiculous. While it did take me hours to get all that stuff out of my hair, no, I'm not getting back at you. Kinda assumed we were past that."

Axel was having none of it.

"No, y'know what?" He glowered, pointing firmly at the blonde. "No."

Turning on his heel, the older man stomped straight to the condom shelf and began tugging them off, grumbling under his breath and shoving boxes into his arms. By the time he was done, Roxas could only manage a raised eyebrow of befuddlement at the packs of Magnums Axel had brought back and shoved into his face.

"There. Here. I know you won't take just money, so I'm gonna buy back what I owe you." A fifty was thrust into Roxas's hand, "We're even."

Truly, Roxas didn't know anyone who lost his cool better than Axel. Frowning bemusedly, he glanced up cautiously at the fireball of a man across from him. "You didn't owe me fifty dollars worth of sex protection."

"What? What? Not enough?"

There were at least fifteen boxes splayed out before him. "Are, uh, these all for you?"

"Yeah." Axel huffed defensively, "Got a problem?"

"No, no, not at all." There was a goddamn year's supply of the stuff, "It's just that, well, one, in the few times we've had sex, you never used a condom and I don't see why you'd start now. And I hate to break it to you, but you're not extra-large."

Axel stared, debating how to handle the fact that Roxas had just down-sized his girth, as it were. Roxas blinked. Axel looked down blankly at the condom army he had amassed.

"… you pose a fairly good point and I'm not sure how to refute that."

"I'm pretty sure you only owed me a dollar or so. Why are you getting so upset about this?" A fair question, considering that Axel had just attempted to buy out a hefty amount of products that were about as useful to him as dental dams.

Deflated, Axel pouted, "I just want to put that behind us. It's one thing to joke about it, but it's honestly not something I'm proud of. The whole bet thing, putting you through all that…"

Roxas looked from the condoms to Axel's sober expression, "I thought that was my line. Wasn't I the one with money in my waistband?"

"That's exactly my point. I don't want to leave these loose ends. I want to move on from how I acted like an idiot. College, fresh relationship, fresh start, y'know?"

Evidently, their untraditional way of meeting had been sitting on Axel's mind and stewing just as much as it had for Roxas. The younger man chewed on his lip, surprised at Axel's grave statement, confused on how they had gotten to this point so quickly. Biting on the soft flesh, he debated the proper words while studying the other's serious frown.

Finally, the blond exhaled slowly, shoved the $50 into his pocket, and began stacking the condoms to take back to the shelf. "Consider the loose ties cut. Fresh slate."

As Axel was about to protest, the Seven-Eleven employee lifted a hand, "Let me finish."

"Not a chance, you're not gonna change my mind. I _am_ buying these." They tussled a moment over the condoms, Axel trying to take them back and Roxas finally smacking his hands in an authoritative manner that eventually got the man to back off.

"Listen. Whatever you think you owe me, whatever favors you think you still need to pay, forget about it. After all that's happened, I'm probably the one that owes _you_."

"Rox, you don't owe me anything."

"I do, though."

Roxas chuckled, grabbing all of the Magnums and stepping around his protective barrier of a counter to go put the products back. Axel watched him but didn't make any moves to stop him. Which was for the best, really, considering that Roxas was now having a bit of trouble meeting the red-head's eyes for what he was about to say next.

His voice fell to an embarrassed murmur. "You're the one who stubbornly didn't give up on me. Even after all I put you through. After everything I did."

Had he ever really thanked him for everything? For sticking with him? For being patient? The Magnum box Roxas was attempting to put back on the shelf shuddered in his twitching fingers.

"Are you saying you owe me because I still love you after all this time?"

"Something like that, yeah. I'm counting the cross-dressing at Otakon, too." Roxas muttered. He risked a glance up at Axel to find him grinning softly, arms crossed over his chest. It took another minute or so for the blond to return all of the condoms to their rightful place, which allowed the two of them to their own embarrassed thoughts. Eventually, however, the red-head broke the quiet.

"You're being adorable again, kid. I can't stand it. Alright, alright. You've convinced me. Clean slate. No condoms. But just because it's you."

"… Oh, shut up."

Their relaxed moment was rudely interrupted with the sound of tires scraping along asphalt. Another late-night junkie. Axel and Roxas's private rendezvous was over. In a way, Roxas was relieved that they had gotten the chance to clear the air. Axel hadn't been completely wrong when he had said that they still had loose ties. But the prospect of a completely clear plate was comforting.

Axel grabbed his helmet and cleared his throat, "I should go."

"Yeah." Roxas nodded distractedly, heading back to his counter haven, "I'll see you tomorrow, then."

Right. Tomorrow. They were heading up to Radiant Garden University together. The reminder of it seemed to cheer Axel up, because he leaned forward to ruffle his blond's hair more affectionately than usual. "Yeah. Bright and early."

"Oh, one more thing before you go." Motioning for the other to get closer, Roxas glanced past him to the double glass doors, ignoring the way Axel's smile had widened with amusement. Regardless, he still had about 20 seconds before they would be interrupted.

"Are you being cute again?" At a look from Roxas that clearly said 'If you don't come here, you won't get anything at all,' however, Axel finally got closer. Roxas wasted no time in tucking his arms around the taller man's neck to push forward and kiss him again. He could feel Axel's chuckle in-between their lips and couldn't help smiling as well when he felt hands go straight to his ass, teasingly squeezing.

It was brief, but Roxas's initiation of it made it sweet. The blond's lips were wet when he finally retreated, voice dropping to a low murmur, "… 'till tomorrow, then."

"Bye, cutie." With a huge grin on his face, Axel dared a quick kiss on Roxas's nose before turning to go. Of course. He could never leave first without heaving the last word.

"I'm keeping the $50, by the way!"

With a laugh, the motorcyclist spun around briefly at the doors to blow his blond a kiss, then walked out and away. The roar of Axel's Kawasaki Ninja still run in Roxas's ears while he rung up the unwelcome other customer's purchases of donuts.

And then it was peaceful and quiet, as if no one had ever come in at all. Looking around the empty convenience store and glancing at the condom rack, Roxas sat down again and pulled his homework towards him.

Where had he left off?

"The most important theme is the book's exploration of the moral nature of human beings-"

Ah yeah. With a tired scowl, Roxas kicked the radio back on with his foot and settled in.

"_Girls at Seven-Eleven…"_

It was going to be a long night.

* * *

It was a strange sensation to pack up one's entire life. Pick out the essentials, stuff them in a box, pile up the boxes in the back of a car. Then go. Just go.

Said car was now rattling down the highway, jostling Roxas's boxed-up life gently and simultaneously lulling the blond into a daze while his head bumped against the passenger seat window.

"You sure you didn't forget anything?"

Roxas stared out at the endless patch of asphalt that was whipping underneath them at 65 miles an hour. He considered the entire shelf of his precious anime and manga left to collect dust with the lingering memories of summer. He thought of all that was staying behind. Of unsuspecting Mickey, who had happily mewled as Roxas walking out the door, certain he'd be back soon. Of Hayner and Seifer, off to their own respective college, of Sora, who would also be heading out to RGU in an hour or so. Of his teary-eyed parents, seeing him off for the first time and promising to call five times a day. Of the pool, of Seven-Eleven, of home.

Roxas smiled slightly, "I'm sure."

"Good," Axel grunted, slouched in his seat with one hand on the steering wheel, "'Cos I'm sure as hell that this heap of junk wouldn't make the journey back, anyway."

Axel, being the motorcycle buff that he was, had been forced to borrow his brother's car to ferry up all of Roxas's possessions. Reno had proudly sworn that "his baby" would get them there safely, but the way the Impala growled in protest if they went over 65 made Axel and Roxas think otherwise.

"Piece of shit." Axel venomously muttered under his breath, scowling at the dash. The matters were made significantly worse by the fact that the old car's air conditioning was busted, forcing the pair to sit in a sunny, sweaty, sticky metal box on wheels in the middle of one of the hotter days of August.

The make-shift prison made Axel testy and irritable; he had already stripped down to a thin tank top and wrenched open the window with the manual controls. In drastic contrast, Roxas was surprisingly content and thoughtful. Perhaps because he was on the verge of starting a new chapter of his life; a cliché but exciting process nonetheless. Axel was just going back to college, without any of the frills and ribbons that Roxas still had.

"Aren't you excited at all about getting back to living away from home and your brother?" Roxas wiped his sweaty hands down on his shorts, leaning his head back on the seat,

Axel laughed briefly, "I guess. I dunno. I don't really have that much to look forward to. At least everything is shiny and new for you."

"I don't really know what to expect," Roxas admitted, "All I know is that it's not going to be like high school."

"Don't worry about it. You'll be fine. It'll be fun. Or. That's what I'm supposed to say."

"So you're not looking forward to anything _at all_?"

The wind blew through the car briefly before the red-head finally responded, "Guess I can't wait to start getting drunk every night so I can forget about the massive amounts of homework I'll have every night."

That wasn't the answer Roxas had been anticipating. Lazily, his head turned from the window to Axel, "You seem tense."

The wind lashed Axel's spikes about as he glanced over at the blond next to him, then gestured at the car, which was starting to ominously grumble again. "Gee, I wonder why."

Shortly afterwards, the wind proceeded to guide a large chunk of crimson hair into Axel's eyes, which resulted in a variety of foul words and a tortured minute of the window being rolled up again intermixed with painful eye rubbing. The lack of rushing air made the car's atmosphere abruptly more subdued and warm, especially with the blond trying to hold back laughter.

"Maybe you should relax a little." Roxas felt blood pumping in his ears, no doubt a result of the sudden lack of fresh air in the car. He licked his lips, dry from the heat, and cleared his throat. "Don't want you going into road rage or anything."

Axel glanced out at the almost empty highway and snorted, combing his hair back with his hand, "What do you want me to do? Take calming breaths? Look at the scenery?"

"Or maybe you could just pay _more _attention to the scenery." Boldly, Roxas reached out to slowly slide his fingers along the red-head's thigh.

Finally, Axel actually smiled, rather than forcing a sort of pained grimace. He looked down at the mischievous hand, but did nothing to deter its movement. "What're you up to, kid?"

"I'm trying to cheer you up before you blow a gasket." Fingers moved down along Axel's jeans, to the knee, before making a slow journey back, keeping a safe pasture along the top of the thigh.

"By feeling me up?"

Roxas grinned slightly, feeling Axel's leg twitch. "Would you prefer a knock-knock joke?"

The car groaned in protest as Axel's involuntarily jerked the acceleration. Roxas's hand had dipped past safe boundaries, squeezing the inside of his thigh teasingly. The blond had no idea what had spurned this on, aside from perhaps the insatiable heat that had abruptly brought out restlessness and an itch to do something like this. Yeah, blaming it on the heat was good. A glance up at Axel, who was starting to sweat a little more, was evidence enough.

Besides, this honestly was a certified way to get Axel's spirits up. Sex always made Axel happy.

The squeezing pressure lightly moved up, frisking easily over Axel's crotch before the driver could do anything about it. The response was a shudder and another grunt from the car as Axel eased them over 65 mph. "You're gonna be the death of me, Rox. What do you want me to do, pull over?"

Enthralled with his own audacious actions, Roxas could only nod distractedly, lips pursed as he traced a line over Axel's groin, amused with the reactions he was getting. "Sure."

This forced Axel to wait a tense few minutes before they reached a part of the road that had an accessible shoulder. Roxas backed off for that, sitting back in his chair and watching the other with an amused smile. Putting Axel into a position of weakness was such a rare occurrence that he wanted to savor it. Making him sweat was very satisfying.

As soon as the hum of the engine died down and a startling quiet settled in the vehicle, Axel turned impatiently towards the blond.

"I don't know what you're planning, but-oh."

Thankfully, Roxas managed to move faster over to the driver's seat before Axel could get the majority of his sentence out. He scrambled to straddle the red-head's lap, going in for the jugular. Or, in this case, the mouth, planting his lips firmly over Axel's while his hands curled around his neck. There was a soft 'hmm' of surprise on Axel's part, but he quickly recovered to pull Roxas in against him, eagerly pushing into the kiss despite the heat.

"You're uncharacteristically horny." Axel murmured between their lips smashing together, amused and mildly out of breath. "People will see, y'know."

Roxas considered this a moment, licking his lips while Axel occupied himself with exploring his neck, nipping gently at the tan skin. This was true, though, their less than innocent activities could be seen clearly by any passing car. The solution, however, wasn't too far off.

"Hold still." He purred, thinking quickly and pushing one hand hard into the back of Axel's seat, the other reaching down to tug on the knob that controlled the chair's reclining angle. In a smooth motion, the pair of them gently lowered down until they were almost vertical, driven by their combined weight.

Even Axel looked impressed, now forced to blink up at Roxas with a twitching sort of smile, "You look pretty good up there."

"What, on top of you?" Roxas began picking at the last layer of clothing on the red-head's torso. It was quickly tossed to the passenger seat as soon as Axel obliged to tug it off.

There was no need to reply, as the blonde was already tugging off his own t-shirt and letting Axel shove his hands down the back of his pants to grab his ass. The touched thrilled him, even more so than usual. Admittedly, Roxas had planned some of his during the night, after Axel had left him with a craving for friction and fingers pushing into flesh. It had just taken the right moment while on the ride. It was also going far better than expected. He had initiated this himself, sober and eager, and it made the sensations all that more satisfying.

"Impatient." He muttered in amusement, arching his spine as their chests slid together. Their groins could have just as easily pushed into each other, but Roxas, deliciously in control, held off. Instead, he lightly scratched his nails down Axel's side while copying the red-head's actions from before. His teeth went to the sensitive flesh of the neck. Except his bites weren't so gentle; Roxas went straight for hard bites, intent on leaving marks. Biting, licking, sucking hard at the skin as addicting, especially with each shuddering moan they drew out of the man beneath him.

"Hypocrite." The fingers on his ass dug in as Axel groaned, tugging his head back to give Roxas more skin to abuse. He tugged his blond harder against himself, urging him on, though Roxas hardly needed it. The younger man was already traveling, giving the bruise on Axel's neck a satisfied lick before going to collarbones, to lanky shoulders, slowing his pace. Chest gently heaving, Axel watched. It was incredibly arousing to watch the smaller blond splayed on top of him, leaving heated kisses over his torso.

Without really thinking, Axel's fingers were suddenly sliding to the front of Roxas's shorts, pulling down to stroke at the clothed erection. Roxas choked, almost melting in response. The idea of drawing it out, of making a tease sort of foreplay fell from his mind.

"Ch-cheater, don't go so fast." His voice definitely came out in a soft whine. He couldn't help it.

Axel brought his lips to Roxas's ear, smirking, "Try to keep up, blondie." He sighed huskily, reaching past boxers at that statement to firmly grab hardened flesh, thumb skittering over the slit teasingly.

"Nnngh…" As Axel started jerking him off, squeezing from the base, Roxas's breathing turned harsh, eyes shutting while his hips began to rock to the set pace. The heat swirled in around them, in his skin, on his limbs. With a moan, his head fell to rest on the red-head's shoulder as he helplessly writhed on top of him, gripping the edges of the car seat for stability.

Axel's fingers were surprisingly cool against his incredibly hot organ, squeezing in all the right places, caressing and teasing the head with practiced ease. As the smooth strokes picked up speed, though, they created such an unbearable sensation that Roxas's mouth dropped open, no noise escaping his mouth because of the breath caught in his throat. It was too intense. It was scorching him. He didn't want it to end simply like this; this would be defeating the purpose of the entire seduction in the first place. This had been to cheer Axel up, not to get him off five minutes into the game.

"Stop." He grit out, weakly reaching down to halt the man's actions, then thinking better of it and digging a hand into Axel's hair instead. Their slick chests rubbed together, sliding slightly from the sweat that had developed. The situation felt even more desperate, sloppy, messy, and erotic as a result. And it still wasn't enough.

"Fingers. Y-your fingers."

Again, with the gravelly tone that reached into Axel's lowest baritones, sending the appropriate vibrations into Roxas's ear that made him shiver.

"What about my fingers, Roxas?"

There was something to be said about how the growling voice swept over his ear, how the other's breath made it all the more intimate and sexual. How Axel's particular word choice sent thrills of electricity right along his spine. Considerable amounts of energy were needed to get the next words out of Roxas's mouth. "I want them instead."

For his effort, Roxas got a chuckle from Axel and a re-direction of the man's talented fingers. Granted, one hand stayed behind to continue gently stroking the blond's attention, but as per orders, the other detached.

"Lube in my back pocket." Roxas hurriedly added, panting and finally managed to sit up without tipping back over. The brief respite helped him catch his breath, assess the situation and adjust himself into a better position. As an afterthought, he also cracked open the back window a fraction, allowing some of the sex-mussed air to escape and fresher air to come in. The heated atmosphere, after all, was welcome, but suffocating was not.

With a raised eyebrow, Axel retrieved the lubricant and easily began applying it to his hand, "You were expecting this?"

The knowing but amused glance his way made Roxas flush, "I was planning it."

"Oh, you _are_ bold today. I like it. C'mere." The blond was tugged back into Axel's lap, bent over on his knees and completely vulnerable. Power had been transferred to Axel and Roxas could do nothing about it. Nor was he about to complain.

There was a small pause that included Axel circling the tight ring of muscles while watching every single change of expression on Roxas's face. He chuckled.

"I think I like having you on top of me."

Every one of Roxas's limbs shook with effort, tense with the teasing. "Why's that?" The blond grit, daring to look down at the older man beneath him. He immediately shuddered and shut his eyes again. Seeing the familiar smirk and gleaming eyes was too much. It was bad enough that Axel was already in control, he didn't need to see the aroused amusement the red-head had of being able to manipulate him in such a way.

"Well, it's better than having your face in the pillows like last time."

With barely time to exhale, to relax, to realize that they were about to do terrible things in a parked car on the side of a freeway… a finger was pushed into his entrance, cool and slick from the lube. The sensation of being stretched and filled at the same time engrossed Roxas as he buckled slightly, chest knocking against the other's.

At the same time, Axel started jerking at his cock again, setting an intoxicating rhythm that Roxas immediately fell into, panting. The finger was easily joined by two, thanks to their sexual activities over the past week. As they probed, prodded, slid in and out, Roxas whined, rocking his hips to encourage the actions until the stretching digits hit his prostate head-on. It didn't matter what they had been talking about, where they were doing this, he just needed it. Immediately.

"Right there," He whimpered, his entire body racked in shudders of pleasure, "H-hold on."

Cracking open his eyes, Roxas slithered a hand down to gently but quickly tug at Axel's pants. Thank god they had both decided to wear gym shorts, it made the process far more expedient. The red-head waited patiently, occasionally wiggling his fingers to make Roxas yelp while his own hardened organ was tugged out.

"You're cute when you want it." Axel noted with a grin, growling slightly as Roxas's hand wrapped around his cock and stroked hard. In response, he began his own forceful ministrations on the younger man again.

"You're cute when you're… _ngh_… moaning underneath me."

The cheeky response came out shortly before the two of them moaned in unison, Roxas burying his face in the crook of Axel's neck while the red-head threw his head back. The competition escalated then, the pair both trying to get the other off quicker. Granted, it was an unfair race, considering that Axel had the upper hand, in a sense, which doomed Roxas to lose from the get-go.

The desperate pants and groans mingled in the overheating car as the two rocked against each other, movements made slippery with sweat. The even pace soon turned erratic. Roxas was simply pushing his hips back into Axel's fingers, three now, while he tried not to get too distracted to continue stroking away. He lost touch of the rhythm when the satisfying friction was lost with his wet palm. His moans escalated into desperate whines and garbled gibberish.

Axel, arching into Roxas's touch, wasn't doing much better. His legs abruptly lashed out as Roxas squeezed from the base to the tip extra hard, one fit smacking into the dashboard with an ominous clunk that went unnoticed by the pair.

"_Fuck_." The red-head unknowingly pushed in deeper into Roxas, his three fingers digging in.

Within seconds, Roxas came first, hitting the peak with a choked inhale, his free hand burying into the seat cushion. He saw stars, felt the sensation of happiness and satisfaction spreading through him body sluggishly until even the tips of his fingers felt blissfully numb.

Axel wasn't too far behind, jerking violently for an instant, then falling limp with a purr-like sigh.

"I can't get up."

"No problem." Releasing Roxas from all of his bonds, Axel instead went looking for tissues without getting up, sticky fingers poking under the seat and on the back seats until he finally hit the small cardboard box. Pushing up the blond that had turned into a ragdoll, he set about cleaning them up diligently.

"You're the best." Roxas smiled up at Axel, following the motion as the other mopped up the mess, then tossed into a bag of trash. "Screw college, we should nap here."

"Oh yeah, napping on the side of the highway seems like a great idea, Roxie, why didn't I think of that?" Grinning, Axel tugged his blond into his arms and nuzzled his hair fondly, disregarding their lingering sweat and the heat. Roxas grunted, burrowing into the embrace.

"It's a brilliant idea, shut up."

He could practically feel Axel's lips pull into a smile, though his mouth was burrowed in his blond spikes, "We should at least put our shirts back on."

Unfortunately, Axel was very correct on that matter. Already, the euphoria was wearing off, being replaced with sleepiness, and even the comfortable quiet of the car cabin was notably disrupted now wit the occasional truck passing. Still, Roxas didn't want to give up. He was so utterly at ease. Content. Happy.

He was happy to be lying shirtless on top of Axel, in an old car, on the hottest day of summer, on the side of the I-90, sweaty, sticky, and absolutely smitten.

"… love you." He mumbled into Axel's chest, idly reaching up to curl a hand around the other's neck.

Two more cars passed by, rushes of air and speed, before Axel replied, stroking Roxas's hair gently.

"I love you, too, blondie."

Fifteen minutes later, they were back on the road, shirts back on and, to their utter disbelief, air conditioner running. As soon as Axel had turned the key in the ignition, the old mechanism had roared into life. Or, really, it coughed and sputtered stubbornly into life, as if complaining about who would dare demand that it function properly.

The violent kick to the dash of Axel reaching orgasm was to blame, though the pair was completely unaware and simply pleased with their good luck.

"Well, at least _one_ good thing happened today." Axel turned the AC to maximum, allowing the cold air to sweep over his face. It rattled and growled, but still managed to function.

"… what do you mean, _one_? Excuse me, do I need to come onto you _again,_ or did you just entirely forget the last half hour of your life?"

Axel grinned and shrugged, feigning innocence as Roxas sputtered in the passenger seat, "I dunno, I might need a reminder or two. Just in case."

The rest of the journey consisted of Roxas's unbridled annoyance Axel's suggestive fingers sliding over various parts of Roxas's body, and almost missing two exits because their squabbling had taken precedence over watching the road.

Half an hour more of bustling in the hot sun and Roxas was moved in to his two-person dorm room, sweating and exhausted.

"Maybe if you hadn't been busy trying to tug down my shorts, we could have avoided almost hitting that poor lady and her van full of disabled children." Roxas dumped the last box of his possessions on his bed in his brand new dorm. Naturally, of the thirty minutes of unpacking, the majority had been spent in argument with occasional butt-slaps on Axel's part.

Following Roxas in, then closing the door, Axel frowned slightly as he glanced around. It was a bleak, jail-cell sort of white, but Roxas already planned on covering the walls in posters and distributing all of his possessions neatly to make sure that he saw as little of the white as possible.

"Huh. They seem to get smaller every year. Anyway." Axel flopped down on the bed with a roll of his eyes. "Stop exaggerating, I didn't hit her, did I? All's well that ends well!"

"You made her swerve! Almost off the road!"

"She had it coming, lady obviously had some road rage issues going." Axel shrugged in a dismissive sort of way, lying back and patting some of the empty space beside him invitingly. Changing the topic, as always. "C'mon, freshman, take a load off already."

It was a temptation that was impossible to resist. Hauling boxes and blowing hot air amidst the already sweltering summer heat had taken its toll. With a final grumble, he stomped over and sat down beside the red-head, who immediately tugged him into his lap.

"Stop complaining. You should be getting excited. First year of college and all that."

Slender fingers began gently combing through Roxas's bright spikes. The last of his grumbles spent and gone, he tried relaxing instead, lying back to put his head on Axel's thighs and stare up at the ceiling. "Hmm. What was the first day of college for you like?"

Axel considered the question. Roxas's gaze drifted from the open window, where the cheap brown curtain that came in every single dorm room fluttered listlessly. The breeze swept into the room, cool and light thanks to his room being up on the seventh floor of his hall. According to Axel, it was the one that didn't have cockroaches, so he had no reason to complain.

A glance back up at Axel showed that the other man was smiling. He scratched gently at the back of Roxas's neck, twining the hair between his fingers idly.

"It was pretty good. Drove up here with Reno. It was pouring sheets. Man." Leaning back, Axel whistled softly, "Feels like ages ago. I still hadn't started dying my hair then, too. Black hair. Tons of piercings. Punk-ass kid. My roommate _hated_ me."

"Mmm. Wish I could've seen that."

"Nah, don't, I looked like a dick."

"As opposed to-"

"Shush." Roxas got a rough ruffle of hair and a teasing poke in the side for his trouble, "Anyway, why are you asking? You said you weren't worried."

"I'm not." To his own surprise, he truly found no familiar knot of anxiety in his gut. The hair stroking was probably helping. "I'm not. I mean, I have you here with me. And Sora'll be here soon. My classes are fine. My dorm is fine."

"And you'll have me to make sure you get your full college experience." Axel added thoughtfully, "Which would be me taking you to a frat, getting you completely drunk again, and then you making an extremely poor life decision to round everything out. Once you get that out of the way, you'll be fine. College experience complete."

"I am so glad I have you here to guide me on the right path to success, Axel." Roxas quipped sardonically, swatting away the comforting hand now to appropriately shake his head in disbelief.

"You're welcome. And now, you should unpack some more, I need to get to my own room and make sure this Saix guy hasn't trashed my stuff." Gently, the pair disentangled. Roxas stood with a yawn, seeing Axel to the door.

"You'll come back later tonight?" The hopeful tone in his voice was so obvious, the blond almost winced, but Axel just chuckled, leaning in to kiss his forehead.

"You gonna miss me?"

A mock-disinterested shrug came with his reply, "Might get bored, need some distraction or entertainment. Don't even have a TV until Sora brings it."

They exchanged glances, knowing very well what Axel intended to do when he come back later. Roxas leaned against the doorframe of his room, watching Axel slowly begin taking backwards steps down the hall.

"How about I show you around later first, then we can find some way to get rid of your boredom?"

"Sounds good to me." He was already waving, ready to shut the door and dive into his boxes, when Axel abruptly pointed at him.

"Oh hey, question. Did you ever finish that To Kill a Mockingbird homework? I seem to recall you spent the entire summer on it."

"Finished it last night." Barely, with minutes in his shift to spare. "After you and all my other suitors in Seven-Eleven left." Roxas added wryly.

"Right, yeah." Axel snorted, shoving his hands in his pockets, "You mention that Atticus Finch in the man, right? Kinda super important."

Vague recollections briefly flickered back of their first meeting and Axel's bold proclamation concerning the fictional character. How could Roxas _not_ include that?

"Of course."

"Good kid. Anyway, I'll see you around. Oh, and Rox? Welcome to college."

With a rueful shake of his head, Roxas stepped back into his room. Welcome to college indeed. He glanced around at the mass disorganization. The night before, he had spent hours packing. Now it was time to do it in reverse. Without hesitation, he went to first set up his laptop and get his music collection going. If he was about to spend time unraveling the important pieces of himself and shoving it into various cabinets and shelves, he would need musical distraction.

New year of college. Newly turned page on his life. Newfound red-head who wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon. New everything.

"_Girls at Seven-Eleven…_"

Roxas looked up from his box, frozen and frowning, then sighed and continued tugging out piles of clothing.

Okay. Well. Maybe not new _everything_. Some things could stay. Like the memories of the past summer, some things _would_ stay. And his memory of meeting a man by the name of Axel at 2:00 in the morning to pay for a discounted pack of lighters, condoms, and a box of Twinkies was surely one of them.


End file.
